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Judges 5 - Good News Bible bible

Judges 5

¹On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song:

²Praise the LORD! The Israelites were determined to fight; the people gladly volunteered.

³Listen, you kings! Pay attention, you rulers! I will sing and play music to Israel's God, the LORD.

⁴LORD, when you left the mountains of Seir, when you came out of the region of Edom, the earth shook, and rain fell from the sky. Yes, water poured down from the clouds.

⁵The mountains quaked before the LORD of Sinai, before the LORD, the God of Israel.

⁶In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, caravans no longer went through the land, and travelers used the back roads.

⁷The towns of Israel stood abandoned, Deborah; they stood empty until you came, came like a mother for Israel.

⁸Then 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?

⁹My heart is with the commanders of Israel, with the people who gladly volunteered. Praise the LORD!

¹⁰Tell of it, you that ride on white donkeys, sitting on saddles, and you that must walk wherever you go.

¹¹Listen! The noisy crowds around the wells are telling of the LORD's victories, the victories of Israel's people! Then the LORD's people marched down from their cities.

¹²Lead on, Deborah, lead on! Lead on! Sing a song! Lead on! Forward, Barak son of Abinoam, lead your captives away!

¹³Then the faithful ones came down to their leaders; the LORD's people came to him ready to fight.

¹⁴They came from Ephraim into the valley, behind the tribe of Benjamin and its people. The commanders came down from Machir, the officers down from Zebulun.

¹⁵The leaders of Issachar came with Deborah; yes, 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.

¹⁶Why did they stay behind with the sheep? To listen to shepherds calling the flocks? Yes, the tribe of Reuben was divided; they could not decide to come.

¹⁷The tribe of Gad stayed east of the Jordan, and the tribe of Dan remained by the ships. The tribe of Asher stayed by the seacoast; they remained along the shore.

¹⁸But the people of Zebulun and Naphtali risked their lives on the battlefield.

¹⁹At Taanach, by the stream of Megiddo, the kings came and fought; the kings of Canaan fought, but they took no silver away.

²⁰The stars fought from the sky; as they moved across the sky, they fought against Sisera.

²¹A flood in the Kishon swept them away--- the onrushing Kishon River. I shall march, march on, with strength!

²²Then the horses came galloping on, stamping the ground with their hoofs.

²³"Put a curse on Meroz,"says the angel of the LORD, "a curse, a curse on those who live there. They did not come to help the LORD, come as soldiers to fight for him."

²⁴The most fortunate of women is Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite--- the most fortunate of women who live in tents.

²⁵Sisera asked for water, but she gave him milk; she brought him cream in a beautiful bowl.

²⁶She took a tent peg in one hand, a worker's hammer in the other; she struck Sisera and crushed his skull; she pierced him through the head.

²⁷He sank to his knees, fell down and lay still at her feet. At her feet he sank to his knees and fell; he fell to the ground, dead.

²⁸Sisera's mother looked out of the window; she gazed from behind the lattice. "Why is his chariot so late in coming?" she asked. "Why are his horses so slow to return?"

²⁹Her wisest friends answered her, and she told herself over and over,

³⁰"They are only finding things to capture and divide, a woman or two for every soldier, rich cloth for Sisera, embroidered pieces for the neck of the queen."

³¹So may all your enemies die like that, O LORD, but may your friends shine like the rising sun! And there was peace in the land for forty years.