1 And Deborah sings—also Barak son of Abinoam—on that day, saying, 2 “For freeing leaders in Israel, || For a people willingly offering themselves, || Bless YHWH. 3 Hear, you kings; give ear, you princes, || I sing to YHWH, || I sing praise to YHWH, God of Israel. 4 YHWH, in Your going forth out of Seir, || In Your stepping out of the field of Edom, || The earth trembled and the heavens dropped, || And thick clouds dropped water. 5 Hills flowed from the face of YHWH, || This one—Sinai—From the face of YHWH, God of Israel. 6 In the days of Shamgar son of Anath—In the days of Jael—The ways have ceased, || And those going in the paths go [in] crooked ways. 7 Villages ceased in Israel—they ceased, || Until I arose—Deborah, || That I arose, a mother in Israel. 8 He chooses new gods, || Then war [is] at the gates! A shield is not seen—and a spear || Among forty thousand in Israel. 9 My heart [is] to the lawgivers of Israel, || Who are offering themselves willingly among the people, || Bless YHWH! 10 Riders on white donkeys—Sitters on a long robe—And walkers by the way—meditate! 11 By the voice of shouters || Between the places of drawing water, || There they give out righteous acts of YHWH, || Righteous acts of His villages in Israel, || Then the people of YHWH have gone down to the gates. 12 Awake, awake, Deborah; Awake, awake, utter a song; Rise, Barak, and take your captivity captive, || Son of Abinoam. 13 Then him who is left of the majestic ones He caused to rule the people of YHWH, || He caused me to rule among the mighty. 14 From Ephraim [are] those whose root [is] in Amalek, || After you, Benjamin, among your peoples, || From Machir lawgivers came down, || And from Zebulun those drawing with the reed of a writer. 15 And princes in Issachar [are] with Deborah, || Indeed, Issachar [is] right with Barak, || Into the valley he was sent on his feet. In the divisions of Reuben, || The decrees of heart [are] great! 16 Why have you abided between the boundaries, || To hear lowings of herds? For the divisions of Reuben, || The searchings of heart [are] great! 17 Gilead dwelt beyond the Jordan, || And why does Dan sojourn [in] ships? Asher has abided at the haven of the seas, || And dwells by his creeks. 18 Zebulun [is] a people who exposed its soul to death, || Naphtali also—on high places of the field. 19 Kings came—they fought; Then kings of Canaan fought, || In Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo; They did not take gain of money! 20 They fought from the heavens: The stars fought with Sisera from their highways. 21 The Brook of Kishon swept them away, || The most ancient brook—the Brook of Kishon. You tread down strength, O my soul! 22 Then the horse-heels were broken, || By gallopings—gallopings of its mighty ones. 23 Curse Meroz, said a messenger of YHWH, || Cursing, curse its inhabitants! For they did not come to the help of YHWH, || To the help of YHWH among the mighty! 24 Above women is Jael, || The wife of Heber the Kenite, || She is blessed above women in the tent. 25 He asked for water—she gave milk; She brought butter near in a lordly dish. 26 She sends forth her hand to the pin, || And her right hand to the laborers’ hammer, || And she hammered Sisera—she struck his head, || Indeed, she struck, and it passed through his temple. 27 He bowed between her feet—He fell, he lay down; He bowed between her feet, he fell; Where he bowed, there he fell—destroyed. 28 She has looked out through the window—Indeed, she cries out—the mother of Sisera, || Through the lattice: Why is his chariot delaying to come? Why have the steps of his chariot tarried? 29 The wise ones, her princesses, answer her, || Indeed, she returns her sayings to herself: 30 Do they not find? They apportion spoil, || A female—two females—for every head, || Spoil of finger-work for Sisera, || Spoil of embroidered finger-work, || Finger-work—a pair of embroidered things, || For the necks of the spoil! 31 So do all Your enemies perish, O YHWH, || And those loving Him [are] || As the going out of the sun in its might!” And the land rests [for] forty years.
Judges · Literal Standard Version
Judges 5 Literal Standard Version
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
Anath
Named only as the father of the judge Shamgar.
Cited in the guide: Judges 3:31; Judges 5:6
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
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
Shamgar
Son of Anath who saved Israel by striking down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad, and whose days are recalled in Deborah's song.
Cited in the guide: Judges 3:31; Judges 5:6
Cross references (30)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Exodus 15:1; Revelation 15:3–4; Isaiah 12:1–6; Psalm 18:1; Revelation 19:1–3
- 2 Judges 5:9; Psalm 110:3; 2 Chronicles 17:16; Philippians 2:13; Psalm 136:19–20
- 3 Psalm 138:4–5; Psalm 119:46; Psalm 2:10–12; Psalm 49:1–2; Ezra 7:21
- 4 Deuteronomy 33:2; Psalm 77:17; Psalm 68:7–8; Psalm 18:7–15; Job 9:6
- 5 Exodus 19:18; Psalm 97:5; Nahum 1:5; Isaiah 64:1–3; Hebrews 12:18
- 6 Isaiah 33:8; Judges 3:31; Lamentations 1:4; Leviticus 26:22; Psalm 125:5
- 7 2 Samuel 20:19; Isaiah 49:23; Romans 16:13; Esther 9:19; Judges 4:4–6
- 8 Deuteronomy 32:16–17; Judges 2:17; Judges 2:12; Judges 4:3; 1 Samuel 13:19–22
- 9 Judges 5:2; 2 Corinthians 8:3–4; 1 Chronicles 29:9; 2 Corinthians 9:5; 2 Corinthians 8:17
- 10 Judges 12:14; Judges 10:4; Psalm 105:2; Psalm 145:11; Isaiah 28:6
- 11 Micah 6:5; Judges 5:8; 1 Samuel 12:7; Deuteronomy 22:24; Lamentations 5:9
- 12 Ephesians 4:8; Psalm 68:18; Psalm 57:8; 2 Timothy 2:26; Ephesians 5:14
- 13 Revelation 2:26–27; Psalm 75:7; Isaiah 41:15–16; Romans 8:37; Revelation 3:9
- 14 Numbers 32:39–40; Judges 3:13; Judges 12:15; Judges 3:27; Judges 4:10
- 15 Judges 4:14; Judges 4:10; Proverbs 22:13; Judges 4:6; 1 Chronicles 12:32
- 16 Numbers 32:24; Numbers 32:1–5; Lamentations 3:40–41; Psalm 4:4; Psalm 77:6
- 17 Joshua 13:25; Joshua 19:24–31; Joshua 13:31
- 18 Judges 4:10; Judges 4:6; Judges 4:14; Acts 20:24; Esther 4:16
- 19 Judges 5:30; Judges 1:27; 1 Kings 4:12; Joshua 10:22–27; Revelation 19:19
- 20 Joshua 10:11; Judges 4:15; Psalm 77:17–18; 1 Samuel 7:10
- 21 Judges 4:7; Psalm 44:5; Micah 7:10; 1 Kings 18:40; Judges 4:13
- 22 Jeremiah 47:4; Psalm 33:17; Psalm 147:10–11; Micah 4:13; Psalm 20:7
- 23 1 Corinthians 16:22; 1 Samuel 18:17; Judges 21:9–10; Jeremiah 48:10; 1 Corinthians 3:9
- 24 Luke 1:42; Luke 1:28; Genesis 14:19; Judges 4:17; Proverbs 31:31
- 25 Judges 4:19–21
- 26 1 Samuel 17:49–51; Judges 4:21; 2 Samuel 20:22
- 27 Psalm 52:7; James 2:13; Matthew 7:2
- 28 Judges 4:15; Song of Songs 2:9; 2 Kings 1:2; James 5:7; Proverbs 7:6
- 30 Exodus 15:9; Psalm 45:14; Job 20:5; Genesis 37:3; 2 Samuel 13:18
- 31 Psalm 37:6; 2 Samuel 23:4; Psalm 19:4–5; Psalm 91:14; James 1:12
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences