1 When Ehud was dead, athe children of Israel again did bevil in the sight of the Lord.
2 So the Lordasold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in bHazor. The commander of his army wascSisera, who dwelt in dHarosheth Hagoyim.
3 And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord; for Jabin had nine hundred achariots of iron, and for twenty years bhe had harshly oppressed the children of Israel.
4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time.
5aAnd she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.
6 Then she sent and called for aBarak the son of Abinoam from bKedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, ‘Go and1 deploy troops at Mount cTabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun;
7 and against you aI will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude at the bRiver Kishon; and I will deliver him into your hand’?”
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 So she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless there will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the Lord will asell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.
10 And Barak called aZebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; he went up with ten thousand men bunder his command, and Deborah went up with him.
11 Now Heber athe Kenite, of the children of bHobab the father-in-law of Moses, had separated himself from the Kenites and pitched his tent near the terebinth tree at Zaanaim, cwhich is beside Kedesh.
12 And they reported to Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor.
13 So Sisera gathered together all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth Hagoyim to the River Kishon.
14 Then Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand. aHas not the Lord gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.
15 And the 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; not a man was aleft.
17 However, Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of aJael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; for therewas peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
18 And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; do not fear.” And when he had turned aside with her into the tent, she covered him with a1 blanket.
19 Then he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened aa jug of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him.
20 And he said to her, “Stand at the door of the tent, and if any man comes and inquires of you, and says, ‘Is there any man here?’ you shall say, ‘No.’ ”
21 Then Jael, Heber’s wife, atook a tent peg and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground; for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.
22 And then, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, I will show you the man whom you seek.” And when he went into her tent, there lay Sisera, dead with the peg in his temple.
23 So on that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan in the presence of the children of Israel.
24 And the hand of the children of Israel grew stronger and stronger against Jabin king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.
JUDGES is the title given to the next book, from its containing the history of those non-regal rulers who governed the Hebrews from the time of Joshua to that of Eli, and whose functions in time of peace consisted chiefly in the administration of justice, although they occasionally led the people in their wars against their public enemies. The date and authorship of this book are not precisely known. It is certain, however, that it preceded the Second Book of Samuel (compare Judges 9:35 with II Samuel 11:21), as well as the conquest of Jerusalem by David (compare Judges 1:21 with II Samuel 5:6). Its author was in all probability Samuel, the last of the judges (see Judges 19:1; Judges 21:25), and the date of the first part of it is fixed in the reign of Saul, while the five chapters at the close might not have been written till after David's establishment as king in Israel (see Judges 18:31). It is a fragmentary history, being a collection of important facts and signal deliverances at different times and in various parts of the land, during the intermediate period of three hundred years between Joshua and the establishment of the monarchy. The inspired character of this book is confirmed by allusions to it in many passages of Scripture (compare Judges 4:2; Judges 6:14 with I Samuel 12:9-12; Judges 9:53 with II Samuel 11:21; Judges 7:25 with Psalms 83:11; compare Judges 5:4-5 with Psalms 7:5; Judges 13:5; Judges 16:17 with Matthew 2:13-23; Acts 13:20; Hebrews 11:32).
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