1 That day Deborah and Barak sang this song:
2 Praise Jehovah! The Israelites were determined to fight. The people gladly volunteered.
3 Listen, you kings! Pay attention, you rulers! I will sing and play music to Israel's God, Jehovah.
4 Jehovah, when you left the mountains of Seir, when you came out of Edom, the earth shook, and rain fell from the sky. Yes, water poured out of the clouds.
5 The mountains shook before Jehovah of Sinai, before Jehovah, the God of Israel.
6 In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were deserted. Travelers used the back roads.
7 The towns of Israel were abandoned. They stood empty until I Deborah came, came like a mother for Israel.
8 There was war in the land when the Israelites chose new gods. Of the forty thousand men in Israel, did anyone carry shield or spear?
9 My heart is with the commanders of Israel, with the people who gladly volunteered. Praise Jehovah!
10 Speak of it, you who ride on white donkeys, sitting on saddles. You that must walk wherever you go.
11 Listen! The noisy crowds around the wells are telling about Jehovah's victories, the victories of Israel's people! Then Jehovah's people marched down from their cities.
12 Wake up, wake up, Deborah: awake, awake, and utter a song. Arise, Barak, and lead your captives away, you son of Abinoam.
13 Then he made those who remain to dominate over the nobles among the people. Jehovah made me have dominion over the mighty.
14 They came from Ephraim to the valley. They were behind the tribe of Benjamin and its people. The commanders came down from Machir. The officers came down from Zebulun.
15 The leaders of Issachar came with Deborah. Issachar came and Barak too, and they followed him into the valley. But the tribe of Reuben was divided; they could not decide to come.
16 Why did they stay behind with the sheep? Did they listen to shepherds calling the flocks? Yes, the tribe of Reuben was divided; they could not decide to come.
17 The tribe of Gad stayed east of the Jordan. The tribe of Dan remained by the ships. The tribe of Asher stayed by the seacoast. They remained by the shore.
18 The people of Zebulun and Naphtali risked their lives on the battlefield.
19 The kings fought at Taanach, by the stream of Megiddo. The kings of Canaan fought, but they took no silver away.
20 As the stars moved across the sky they fought against Sisera.
21 The River Kishon swept them away. That ancient flooding river swept them away. March on! March on and be strong.
22 Then the horses hooves thundered and his mighty steeds stamped the ground.
23 Curse Meroz, says Jehovah's angel: Curse those who live there. They did not come to help Jehovah. They did not come as soldiers to fight for him.
24 Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, is the most blessed of women. The most blessed of women who live in tents.
25 Sisera asked for water. She gave him milk. She brought him cream in a beautiful bowl.
26 She took a tent peg in one hand and hammer in the other. She struck Sisera and crushed his skull. Yes, she pierced him through the head.
27 He sank to his knees and fell down at her feet. At her feet he sank. He fell to the ground, dead.
28 Sisera's mother looked thru the window. From behind the lattice she looked. Why is his chariot so late in coming? She asked. Why are his horses so slow to return?
29 The wisest of her ladies answered her, and she told herself over and over,
30 They are finding things to capture and divide. They find a woman or two for every soldier, rich cloth for Sisera, embroidered pieces for the queen.
31 May all your enemies die like that, Jehovah, may your friends shine like the rising sun! There was peace in the land for forty years.