1The sons of Israel again did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, now that Ehud was dead.
2So Yahweh sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; and the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim.
3Then the sons of Israel cried out to Yahweh, for he had nine hundred iron chariots, and he oppressed the sons of Israel harshly for twenty years.
4Now Deborah, a woman, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.
5She used to sit under the palm of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the sons of Israel would go up to her for judgment.
6She sent and called for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh of Naphtali, and said to him, “Has not Yahweh the God of Israel commanded: Go, march to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun.”
7And I will draw out to you, to the Wadi Kishon, Sisera the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude, and I will give him into your hand.”
8Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you do not go with me, I will not go.”
9She said, “I will certainly go with you; however, the glory on the road on which you are going will not be yours, for into the hand of a woman Yahweh will sell Sisera.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.
10Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh, and ten thousand men went up at his feet; and Deborah went up with him.
11Now Heber the Kenite had separated from the Kenites, from the sons of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far as the oak in Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh.
12When they told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor,
13Sisera summoned all his chariots, nine hundred iron chariots, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth-hagoyim to the Wadi Kishon.
14Deborah said to Barak, “Arise, for this is the day on which Yahweh has given Sisera into your hand. Has not Yahweh gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men after him.
15And Yahweh threw Sisera and all his chariots and all the army into a panic before the edge of the sword, before Barak; and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot.
16But 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 one was left.
17Meanwhile Sisera had fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
18Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; do not be afraid.” So he turned aside to her, into the tent, and she covered him with a rug.
19He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him.
20He said to her, “Stand at the entrance of the tent, and if anyone comes and asks you, ‘Is there a man here?’ say, ‘No.’”
21Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and put a mallet in her hand, and she came to him stealthily and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground; for he was fast asleep and exhausted. So he died.
22And behold, as Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man you are seeking.” So he came to her, and behold, Sisera lay fallen, dead, with the tent peg in his temple.
23So on that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the sons of Israel.
24And the hand of the sons of Israel bore down harder and harder on Jabin king of Canaan, until they had cut off Jabin king of Canaan.
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