Deborah and Barak Deliver from Canaanites
Then athe sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud died. 2 And the Lord sold them into the hand of aJabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; and the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in bHarosheth-hagoyim. 3 The sons of Israel cried to the Lord; for he had nine hundred airon chariots, and he oppressed the sons of Israel severely for twenty years.
4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. 5 She used to sit under the apalm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment. 6 Now she sent and summoned aBarak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, “Behold, the Lord, the God of Israel, has commanded, ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun. 7 I will draw out to you Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his many troops to the river Kishon, and aI will give him into your hand.’” 8 Then 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 She said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the honor shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, afor the Lord will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 Barak called aZebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh, and ten thousand men went up bwith him; Deborah also went up with him.
11 Now Heber athe Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, from the sons of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the oak in bZaanannim, which is near Kedesh.
12 Then they told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. 13 Sisera called together all his chariots, anine hundred iron chariots, and all the people who were with him, from bHarosheth-hagoyim to the river Kishon. 14 Deborah said to Barak, “Arise! For this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hands; behold, athe Lord has gone out before you.” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. 15 aThe Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot. 16 But Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth-hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; anot even one was left.
17 Now Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. 18 Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my master, turn aside to me! Do not be afraid.” And he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. 19 aHe said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a bottle of milk and gave him a drink; then she covered him. 20 He said to her, “Stand in the doorway of the tent, and it shall be if anyone comes and inquires of you, and says, ‘Is there anyone here?’ that you shall say, ‘No.’” 21 But Jael, Heber’s wife, atook a tent peg and seized a hammer in her hand, and went secretly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went through into the ground; for he was sound asleep and exhausted. So he died. 22 And behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” And he entered with her, and behold Sisera was lying dead with the tent peg in his temple.
23 So aGod subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the sons of Israel. 24 The hand of the sons of Israel pressed heavier and heavier upon Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin the king of Canaan.
The Song of Deborah and Barak
aThen Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying,
2 “aThat the leaders led in Israel,
That bthe people volunteered,
Bless the Lord!
3 “Hear, O kings; give ear, O rulers!
aI—to the Lord, I will sing,
I will sing praise to the Lord, the God of Israel.
4 “aLord, when You went out from Seir,
When You marched from the field of Edom,
bThe earth quaked, the heavens also dripped,
Even the clouds dripped water.
5 “aThe mountains quaked at the presence of the Lord,
bThis Sinai, at the presence of the Lord, the God of Israel.
6 “In the days of aShamgar the son of Anath,
In the days of bJael, the highways were deserted,
And travelers went by roundabout ways.
7 “The peasantry ceased, they ceased in Israel,
Until I, Deborah, arose,
Until I arose, a mother in Israel.
8 “aNew gods were chosen;
Then war was in the gates.
Not a shield or a spear was seen
Among forty thousand in Israel.
9 “My heart goes out to athe commanders of Israel,
The volunteers among the people;
Bless the Lord!
10 “aYou who ride on white donkeys,
You who sit on rich carpets,
And you who travel on the road—sing!
11 “At the sound of those who divide flocks among athe watering places,
There they shall recount bthe righteous deeds of the Lord,
The righteous deeds for His peasantry in Israel.
Then the people of the Lord went down cto the gates.
12 “aAwake, awake, Deborah;
Awake, awake, sing a song!
Arise, Barak, and btake away your captives, O son of Abinoam.
13 “Then survivors came down to the nobles;
The people of the Lord came down to me as warriors.
14 “From Ephraim those whose root is ain Amalek came down,
Following you, Benjamin, with your peoples;
From Machir commanders came down,
And from Zebulun those who wield the staff of office.
15 “And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah;
As was Issachar, so was Barak;
Into the valley they rushed aat his heels;
Among the divisions of Reuben
There were great resolves of heart.
16 “Why did you sit among athe sheepfolds,
To hear the piping for the flocks?
Among the divisions of Reuben
There were great searchings of heart.
17 “aGilead remained across the Jordan;
And why did Dan stay in ships?
Asher sat at the seashore,
And remained by its landings.
18 “aZebulun was a people who despised their lives even to death,
And Naphtali also, on the high places of the field.
19 “aThe kings came and fought;
Then fought the kings of Canaan
bAt Taanach near the waters of Megiddo;
cThey took no plunder in silver.
20 “aThe stars fought from heaven,
From their courses they fought against Sisera.
21 “The torrent of Kishon swept them away,
The ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon.
aO my soul, march on with strength.
22 “aThen the horses’ hoofs beat
From the dashing, the dashing of his valiant steeds.
23 ‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the Lord,
‘Utterly curse its inhabitants;
aBecause they did not come to the help of the Lord,
To the help of the Lord against the warriors.’
24 “aMost blessed of women is Jael,
The wife of Heber the Kenite;
Most blessed is she of women in the tent.
25 “He asked for water and she gave him milk;
In a magnificent bowl she brought him curds.
26 “She reached out her hand for the tent peg,
And her right hand for the workmen’s hammer.
Then she struck Sisera, she smashed his head;
And she shattered and pierced his temple.
27 “Between her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay;
Between her feet he bowed, he fell;
Where he bowed, there he fell dead.
28 “Out of the window she looked and lamented,
The mother of Sisera through the lattice,
‘Why does his chariot delay in coming?
Why do the hoofbeats of his chariots tarry?’
29 “Her wise princesses would answer her,
Indeed she repeats her words to herself,
30 ‘aAre they not finding, are they not dividing the spoil?
A maiden, two maidens for every warrior;
To Sisera a spoil of dyed work,
A spoil of dyed work embroidered,
Dyed work of double embroidery on the neck of the spoiler?’
31 “aThus let all Your enemies perish, O Lord;
bBut let those who love Him be like the rising of the sun in its might.”
And the land was undisturbed for forty years.
Israel Oppressed by Midian
Then the sons of Israel adid what was evil in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord gave them into the hands of bMidian seven years. 2 The power of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of Midian the sons of Israel made for themselves athe dens which were in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. 3 For it was when Israel had sown, that the Midianites would come up with the Amalekites and the sons of the east and go against them. 4 So they would camp against them and adestroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and bleave no sustenance in Israel as well as no sheep, ox, or donkey. 5 For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, they would come in alike locusts for number, both they and their camels were innumerable; and they came into the land to devastate it. 6 So Israel was brought avery low because of Midian, and the sons of Israel cried to the Lord.
7 Now it came about when the sons of Israel cried to the Lord on account of Midian, 8 that the Lord sent a prophet to the sons of Israel, and ahe said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘It was I who brought you up from Egypt and brought you out from the house of slavery. 9 I delivered you from the hands of the Egyptians and from the hands of all your oppressors, and dispossessed them before you and gave you their land, 10 and I said to you, “I am the Lord your God; you ashall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. But you have not obeyed Me.”’”
Gideon Is Visited
11 Then athe angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the bAbiezrite as his son cGideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites. 12 The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior.” 13 Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But anow the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 14 The Lord looked at him and said, “aGo in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” 15 aHe said to Him, “O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in bManasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” 16 aBut the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man.” 17 So Gideon said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me aa sign that it is You who speak with me. 18 Please do not depart from here, until I come back to You, and bring out my offering and lay it before You.” And He said, “I will remain until you return.”
19 Then Gideon went in and aprepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour; he put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, and brought them out to him under the oak and presented them. 20 The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so. 21 Then the angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and afire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. 22 aWhen Gideon saw that he was the angel of the Lord, he said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” 23 The Lord said to him, “Peace to you, do not fear; you shall not die.” 24 Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and named it The Lord is Peace. To this day it is still ain Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
25 Now on the same night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull and a second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the aAsherah that is beside it; 26 and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold in an orderly manner, and take a second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.” 27 Then Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had spoken to him; and because he was too afraid of his father’s household and the men of the city to do it by day, he did it by night.
The Altar of Baal Destroyed
28 When the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was torn down, and the Asherah which was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar which had been built. 29 They said to one another, “Who did this thing?” And when they searched about and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash did this thing.” 30 Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has torn down the altar of Baal, and indeed, he has cut down the Asherah which was beside it.” 31 But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal, or will you deliver him? Whoever will plead for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because someone has torn down his altar.” 32 Therefore on that day he named him aJerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he had torn down his altar.
33 Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the sons of the east assembled themselves; and they crossed over and camped in athe valley of Jezreel. 34 So athe Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon; and he bblew a trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called together to follow him. 35 He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, and they also were called together to follow him; and he sent messengers to Asher, aZebulun, and Naphtali, and bthey came up to meet them.
Sign of the Fleece
36 Then Gideon said to God, “aIf You will deliver Israel through me, as You have spoken, 37 behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I will know that You will deliver Israel through me, as You have spoken.” 38 And it was so. When he arose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece, he drained the dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water. 39 Then Gideon said to God, “aDo not let Your anger burn against me that I may speak once more; please let me make a test once more with the fleece, let it now be dry only on the fleece, and let there be dew on all the ground.” 40 God did so that night; for it was dry only on the fleece, and dew was on all the ground.