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⁶ In the days of Shamgar^(C1) son of Anath,
in the days of Jael,^(C2)
the main roads were deserted
because travelers kept to the side roads.⁷ Villages were deserted,^(F1)
they were deserted in Israel,
until I,^(F2) Deborah, arose,
a mother in Israel.⁸ Israel chose new gods,
then there was war in the city gates.
Not a shield or spear was seen
among forty thousand in Israel.⁹ My heart is with the leaders of Israel,
with the volunteers of the people.
Blessed be the Lord!¹⁰ You who ride on white^(F1) donkeys,
who sit on saddle blankets,
and who travel on the road, give praise!¹¹ Let them tell the righteous acts^(C1) of the Lord,
the righteous deeds of his warriors in Israel,
with the voices of the singers at the watering places.^(F1)
Then the Lord’s people went down to the city gates.¹² “Awake! Awake, Deborah!
Awake! Awake, sing a song!
Arise, Barak,
and take your prisoners,
son of Abinoam!”¹³ Then the survivors^(C1) came down to the nobles;^(C2)
the Lord’s people came down to me^(F1) with the warriors.¹⁴ Those with their roots in Amalek^(F1) came from Ephraim;
Benjamin came with your people after you.
The leaders came down from Machir,^(C1)
and those who carry a marshal’s staff came from Zebulun.¹⁵ The princes of Issachar were with Deborah;
Issachar was with Barak;
they were under his leadership^(F1)(C1) in the valley.
There was great searching^(F2) of heart
among the clans of Reuben.¹⁶ Why did you sit among the sheep pens^(F1)
listening to the playing of pipes for the flocks?
There was great searching of heart
among the clans of Reuben.¹⁷ Gilead^(C1) remained beyond the Jordan.
Dan, why did you linger at the ships?
Asher remained at the seashore
and stayed in his harbors.¹⁸ The people of Zebulun defied death,
Naphtali also, on the heights of the battlefield.

¹⁹ Kings came and fought.
Then the kings of Canaan fought
at Taanach by the Waters of Megiddo,
but they did not plunder the silver.²⁰ The stars fought from the heavens;
the stars fought with Sisera from their paths.²¹ The river Kishon swept them away,^(C1)
the ancient river, the river Kishon.
March on, my soul, in strength!²² The horses’ hooves then hammered—
the galloping, galloping of his^(F1) stallions.²³ “Curse Meroz,” says the angel of the Lord,
“Bitterly curse her inhabitants,
for they did not come to help the Lord,
to help the Lord with the warriors.”

²⁴ Jael is most blessed of women,
the wife of Heber the Kenite;
she is most blessed among tent-dwelling women.²⁵ He asked for water; she gave him milk.
She brought him cream^(C1) in a majestic bowl.²⁶ She reached for a tent peg,
her right hand, for a workman’s hammer.
Then she hammered Sisera—
she crushed his head;
she shattered and pierced his temple.²⁷ He collapsed, he fell, he lay down between her feet;
he collapsed, he fell between her feet;
where he collapsed, there he fell—dead.

²⁸ Sisera’s mother looked through the window;
she peered through the lattice, crying out:
“Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why don’t I hear the hoofbeats of his horses?” ^(F1)29 Her wisest princesses answer her;
she even answers herself:^(F1)30 “Are they not finding and dividing the spoil—
a girl or two^(F1) for each warrior,
the spoil of colored garments for Sisera,
the spoil of an embroidered garment or two for my neck?” ^(F2)

³¹ Lord, may all your enemies perish as Sisera did.^(F1)
But may those who love him
be like the rising of the sun in its strength.