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The Histories · Old Testament

Judges 5

Deborah and Barak's song of victory

General context

Deborah and Barak sing praise after the victory. The song depicts the Lord coming from Seir and Edom amid trembling earth, water from heaven and mountains moved before him. It recalls abandoned highways and troubled public life before Deborah arose as a mother in Israel. Willing leaders and people are praised. The tribal passages commend those who came, question Reuben's hesitation and Dan's and Asher's absence, and praise Zebulun and Naphtali for risking their lives. The battle is told through kings at Megiddo, stars fighting against Sisera and the Kishon sweeping the enemy away. Meroz is cursed for failing to help, while Jael is blessed for killing Sisera. The song lingers over his fall, then turns to his mother waiting for a delayed chariot. Her attendants and her own reply imagine the victors dividing women and decorated clothing as spoil. The closing wish asks that the Lord's enemies perish and those who love him be like the rising sun. The chapter closes with forty years of rest.

Cited passages: Judges 5:1, Judges 5:2, Judges 5:3, Judges 5:4, Judges 5:5, Judges 5:6, Judges 5:7, Judges 5:8, Judges 5:9, Judges 5:10, Judges 5:11, Judges 5:12, Judges 5:13, Judges 5:14, Judges 5:15, Judges 5:16, Judges 5:17, Judges 5:18, Judges 5:19, Judges 5:20, Judges 5:21, Judges 5:22, Judges 5:23, Judges 5:24, Judges 5:25, Judges 5:26, Judges 5:27, Judges 5:28, Judges 5:29, Judges 5:30, Judges 5:31

Judges 5 (KJV)

1Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying,

2Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves.

3Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I, will sing unto the Lord; I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel.

4Lord, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water.

5The mountains melted from before the Lord, even that Sinai from before the Lord God of Israel.

6In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways.

7The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.

8They chose new gods; then was war in the gates: was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?

9My heart is toward the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless ye the Lord.

10Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment, and walk by the way.

11They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the Lord, even the righteous acts toward the inhabitants of his villages in Israel: then shall the people of the Lord go down to the gates.

12Awake, awake, Deborah: awake, awake, utter a song: arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam.

13Then he made him that remaineth have dominion over the nobles among the people: the Lord made me have dominion over the mighty.

14Out of Ephraim was there a root of them against Amalek; after thee, Benjamin, among thy people; out of Machir came down governors, and out of Zebulun they that handle the pen of the writer.

15And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah; even Issachar, and also Barak: he was sent on foot into the valley. For the divisions of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart.

16Why abodest thou among the sheepfolds, to hear the bleatings of the flocks? For the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.

17Gilead abode beyond Jordan: and why did Dan remain in ships? Asher continued on the sea shore, and abode in his breaches.

18Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field.

19The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo; they took no gain of money.

20They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.

21The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength.

22Then were the horsehoofs broken by the means of the pransings, the pransings of their mighty ones.

23Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.

24Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent.

25He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish.

26She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen’s hammer; and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples.

27At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down: at her feet he bowed, he fell: where he bowed, there he fell down dead.

28The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots?

29Her wise ladies answered her, yea, she returned answer to herself,

30Have they not sped? have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two; to Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of divers colours of needlework, of divers colours of needlework on both sides, meet for the necks of them that take the spoil?

31So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years.

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

This is a victory song, using addresses, images and represented speeches rather than a continuous prose battle report. Its tribal references concern communities, while Deborah's mother in Israel describes her role without supplying a record of children. Some lines vary considerably: verse 2 speaks of avenging in KJV, leaders taking the lead in ASV and fighters' flowing hair in BBE; verse 7 contrasts KJV's villagers with ASV's rulers. KJV's smote off his head in verse 26 is smote through in ASV and crushing the head in BBE. These versions should not be combined into additional blows or a certain decapitation scene. The women as spoil in verse 30 belong to the enemy household's imagined explanation for the delay, not a report that this anticipated distribution occurs.

Cited passages: Judges 5:1, Judges 5:2, Judges 5:3, Judges 5:4, Judges 5:5, Judges 5:6, Judges 5:7, Judges 5:8, Judges 5:14, Judges 5:15, Judges 5:16, Judges 5:17, Judges 5:18, Judges 5:24, Judges 5:25, Judges 5:26, Judges 5:27, Judges 5:28, Judges 5:29, Judges 5:30, Judges 5:31

Literary context

The song moves between praise, summons, remembered danger, tribal assessment and the battle's cosmic and river images. The curse on absent Meroz is followed by blessing on Jael. Repeated bowed, fell and lay phrases slow the account of Sisera's death. The next scene lets his mother imagine triumph while the audience has just heard his defeat, creating a sharp gap between her expectation and the song's account. The final sun image for the Lord's lovers answers its wish for his enemies to perish.

Cited passages: Judges 5:2, Judges 5:3, Judges 5:4, Judges 5:5, Judges 5:9, Judges 5:10, Judges 5:11, Judges 5:12, Judges 5:13, Judges 5:14, Judges 5:15, Judges 5:16, Judges 5:17, Judges 5:18, Judges 5:19, Judges 5:20, Judges 5:21, Judges 5:22, Judges 5:23, Judges 5:24, Judges 5:25, Judges 5:26, Judges 5:27, Judges 5:28, Judges 5:29, Judges 5:30, Judges 5:31

Key moments

  1. Deborah and Barak sing (Judges 5:1). The chapter opens by naming both singers on the day of victory.
  2. Lives put at risk (Judges 5:18). Zebulun and Naphtali are praised for risking their lives in the field.
  3. The Kishon in the song (Judges 5:21). The river is described as sweeping the enemy away.
  4. A mother waits for the chariot (Judges 5:28). Sisera's mother asks why his return is delayed, after the song has described his death.

For reflection

The song asks who came to help and who stayed away. Which responsibilities can become clearer when a community remembers both participation and absence?

People in this chapter

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