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

2 P raise ye the LORD for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves.

3 H ear, O ye kings. Give ear, O ye princes; I, even I, will sing unto the LORD; I will praise the LORD God of Israel.

4 L ORD, when thou didst go out of Seir, when thou didst march out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped; the clouds also dropped water.

5 T he mountains melted from before the LORD, even that Sinai from before the LORD God of Israel.

6 ¶ In the days of Shamgar, the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways ceased, and those that walked went astray through crooked paths.

7 T he inhabitants of the villages ceased; they had ceased in Israel until I Deborah arose, I arose a mother in Israel.

8 W hen they chose new gods, the war was at the gates. Was there a shield or spear to be seen among forty thousand in Israel?

9 M y heart is toward the princes of Israel, those that offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless ye the LORD.

10 S peak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that preside in judgment, and walk by the way.

11 B ecause of the noise of archers, taken from among those that draw water, there they shall retell the righteousnesses of the LORD, even the righteousnesses of his villages in Israel. Now shall the people of the LORD go down to the gates.

12 ¶ Rise up, rise up, Deborah; rise up, rise up, sing a song. Stand up, Barak and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam.

13 N ow he has made the remnant of the people to have dominion over the magnificent; the LORD made me have dominion over the mighty.

14 O ut of Ephraim came his root against Amalek; after thee, came Benjamin, against thy peoples; out of Machir came down princes; and from Zebulun, those that handle the pen of the writer.

15 A lso princes of Issachar were with Deborah; and Issachar, like Barak, went on foot into the valley. From the divisions of Reuben, great are the thoughts of the heart.

16 W hy didst thou abide among the sheepfolds, to hear the bleatings of the flocks? From the divisions of Reuben great are the searchings of the heart.

17 G ilead remained on the other side of the Jordan, and why did Dan remain next to the ships? Asher continued on the sea shore and remained in his breaches.

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

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

20 T hey fought from the heavens; the stars from their ways fought against Sisera.

21 T he river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. Tread down, O my soul, with strength.

22 T hen were the hoofs of the horses broken by the means of the pransings, the pransings of their mighty ones.

23 C urse ye Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof because they did not come to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty.

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

25 H e asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth cream in a lordly dish.

26 S he put her hand to the stake, 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.

27 A t her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down; at her feet he bowed, he fell; where he bowed, there he fell down dead.

28 T he mother of Sisera looked out the window and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why do the wheels of his chariots tarry?

29 H er wise princesses answered her; and she even answered to herself,

30 H ave they not found spoil and are dividing it? To each man a damsel or two; to Sisera a spoil of different colours, a spoil of different colours of needlework, of different colours of needlework on both sides, meet for the necks of those that take the spoil?

31 S o let all thine enemies perish, O LORD, but let those that love thee be as the sun when he rises in all his might. And the land had rest forty years.