1 And the children of Israel again did evil in the eyes of the Lord when Ehud was dead. 2 And the Lord gave them up into the hands of Jabin, king of Canaan, who was ruling in Hazor; the captain of his army was Sisera, who was living in Harosheth of the Gentiles. 3 Then the children of Israel made prayer to the Lord; for he had nine hundred iron war-carriages, and for twenty years he was very cruel to the children of Israel. 4 Now Deborah, a woman prophet, the wife of Lapidoth, was judge of Israel at that time. 5 (And she had her seat under the palm-tree of Deborah between Ramah and Beth-el in the hill-country of Ephraim; and the children of Israel came up to her to be judged.) 6 And she sent for Barak, the son of Abinoam, from Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, given orders saying, Go and get your force into line in Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun? 7 And I will make Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his war-carriages and his forces, come against you at the river Kishon, where I will give him into your hands. 8 And Barak said to her, If you will go with me then I will go; but if you will not go with me I will not go. 9 And she said, I will certainly go with you: though you will get no honour in your undertaking, for the Lord will give Sisera into the hands of a woman. So Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 Then Barak sent for Zebulun and Naphtali to come to Kedesh; and ten thousand men went up after him, and Deborah went up with him. 11 Now Heber the Kenite, separating himself from the rest of the Kenites, from the children of Hobab, the brother-in-law of Moses, had put up his tent as far away as the oak-tree in Zaanannim, by Kedesh. 12 And word was given to Sisera that Barak, the son of Abinoam, had gone up to Mount Tabor. 13 So Sisera got together all his war-carriages, nine hundred war-carriages of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles as far as the river Kishon. 14 Then Deborah said to Barak, Up! for today the Lord has given Sisera into your hands: has not the Lord gone out before you? So Barak went down from Mount Tabor and ten thousand men after him. 15 And the Lord sent fear on Sisera and all his war-carriages and all his army before Barak; and Sisera got down from his war-carriage and went in flight on foot. 16 But Barak went after the war-carriages and the army as far as Harosheth of the Gentiles; and all Sisera's army was put to the sword; not a man got away. 17 But Sisera went in flight on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin, king of Hazor, and the family of Heber the Kenite. 18 And Jael went out to Sisera, and said to him, Come in, my lord, come in to me without fear. So he went into her tent, and she put a cover over him. 19 Then he said to her, Give me now a little water, for I have need of a drink. And opening a skin of milk, she gave him drink, and put the cover over him again. 20 And he said to her, Take your place at the door of the tent, and if anyone comes and says to you, Is there any man here, say, No. 21 Then Jael, Heber's wife, took a tent-pin and a hammer and went up to him quietly, driving the pin into his head, and it went through his head into the earth, for he was in a deep sleep from weariness; and so he came to his end. 22 Then Jael went out, and meeting Barak going after Sisera, said to him, Come, and I will let you see the man you are searching for. So he came into her tent and saw, and there was Sisera stretched out dead with the tent-pin in his head. 23 So that day God overcame Jabin, king of Canaan, before the children of Israel. 24 And the power of the children of Israel went on increasing against Jabin, king of Canaan, till he was cut off.
Judges · Bible in Basic English
Judges 4 Bible in Basic English
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Abinoam
Named as the father of Barak of Kedesh in Naphtali.
Cited in the guide: Judges 4:6; Judges 4:12; Judges 5:1
Barak
Son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali whom Deborah summoned to lead ten thousand men from Naphtali and Zebulun against Sisera, and who sang Deborah's song with her.
Cited in the guide: Judges 4:6; Judges 4:14; Judges 5:1
Deborah
Prophetess and wife of Lappidoth who judged Israel from under the Palm of Deborah in the hill country of Ephraim, summoned Barak to fight Sisera, and sang the victory song with…
Cited in the guide: Judges 4:4; Judges 4:9; Judges 5:1
Heber
Kenite who had separated from the descendants of Hobab, pitched his tent near Kedesh, and was at peace with Jabin king of Hazor, and whose wife Jael killed Sisera.
Cited in the guide: Judges 4:11; Judges 4:17; Judges 5:24
Hobab
The son of Moses' father-in-law Reuel the Midianite, whom Moses urged to guide Israel through the wilderness and who answered that he would return to his own land and people.
Cited in the guide: Numbers 10:29–30; Judges 4:11
Jabin
King of Canaan who reigned in Hazor and oppressed Israel twenty years with nine hundred iron chariots until God subdued him after Barak's victory; Scripture does not say whether…
Cited in the guide: Judges 4:2; Judges 4:17; Judges 4:23–24
Jael
Wife of Heber the Kenite who gave the fleeing Sisera shelter and killed him with a tent peg, and whom Deborah's song calls most blessed among tent-dwelling women.
Cited in the guide: Judges 4:17; Judges 4:21; Judges 5:6
Lappidoth
Named only as the husband of the prophetess and judge Deborah.
Cited in the guide: Judges 4:4
Sisera
Commander of Jabin's forces, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim, was routed by Barak at the Kishon, and was killed by Jael with a tent peg.
Cited in the guide: Judges 4:2; Judges 4:15; Judges 4:21
Cross references (24)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Jeremiah 5:3; Leviticus 26:23–25; Judges 3:12; Judges 10:6; Psalm 106:43–45
- 2 Judges 4:13; Joshua 11:1; Judges 4:16; Psalm 83:9; 1 Samuel 12:9
- 3 Judges 1:19; Psalm 106:42; Judges 3:9; Judges 5:8; Judges 10:16
- 4 Exodus 15:20; 2 Kings 22:14; Galatians 3:28; Luke 2:36; Joel 2:28–29
- 5 Exodus 18:19; 1 Samuel 1:1; Joshua 18:25; Deuteronomy 17:8–12; Joshua 16:2
- 6 Acts 13:47; Judges 8:18; Hebrews 11:32; Joshua 19:32; Joshua 19:37
- 7 Psalm 83:9–10; Ezekiel 38:10–16; 1 Kings 18:40; Judges 5:21; Joel 3:11–14
- 8 Exodus 4:10–14; Matthew 14:30–31
- 9 1 Samuel 2:30; Judges 5:24–27; Judges 9:54; Judges 2:14; 2 Samuel 20:21–22
- 10 Judges 5:18; Judges 5:15; 1 Samuel 25:27; Exodus 11:8; Judges 4:14
- 11 Numbers 10:29; Joshua 19:33; Judges 1:16; Joshua 19:37; Exodus 3:1
- 12 Psalm 89:12; Joshua 19:34; Joshua 19:12; Jeremiah 46:18; Judges 4:6
- 13 Judges 4:2–3; Judges 4:7
- 14 2 Samuel 5:24; Deuteronomy 9:3; Isaiah 52:12; Psalm 68:7–8; Micah 2:13
- 15 Joshua 10:10; Psalm 83:9–10; 2 Chronicles 13:15–17; Hebrews 11:32; Judges 5:20–21
- 16 Romans 2:12; James 2:13; Leviticus 26:7–8; Isaiah 43:17; Joshua 10:19–20
- 17 Isaiah 57:21; Psalm 37:35–36; Psalm 69:22; Job 12:19–21; Job 18:7–12
- 18 2 Kings 6:19
- 19 Judges 5:25–26; John 4:7; Genesis 24:43; 1 Kings 17:10; Isaiah 41:17
- 20 Joshua 2:3–5; 2 Samuel 17:20
- 21 Psalm 3:7; Judges 5:26–27; 1 Corinthians 1:27; Judges 3:21; 1 Corinthians 1:19
- 22 2 Samuel 17:3; 2 Samuel 17:10–15
- 23 Psalm 18:47; Nehemiah 9:24; Psalm 18:39; 1 Chronicles 22:18; 1 Corinthians 15:28
- 24 1 Samuel 3:12
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences