5:1 On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song:
5:2 “When the princes in Israel take the lead, when the people willingly offer themselves - praise the Lord!
5:3 “Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers! I, even I, will sing to* the Lord; I will praise the Lord, the God of Israel, in song. / *Or of
5:4 “When you, Lord, went out from Seir, when you marched from the land of Edom, the earth shook, the heavens poured, the clouds poured down water.
5:5 The mountains quaked before the Lord, the One of Sinai, before the Lord, the God of Israel.
5:6 “In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were abandoned; travelers took to winding paths.
5:7 Villagers in Israel would not fight; they held back until I, Deborah, arose, until I arose, a mother in Israel.
5:8 God chose new leaders when war came to the city gates, but not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel.
5:9 My heart is with Israel’s princes, with the willing volunteers among the people. Praise the Lord!
5:10 “You who ride on white donkeys, sitting on your saddle blankets, and you who walk along the road, consider
5:11 the voice of the singers* at the watering places. They recite the victories of the Lord, the victories of his villagers in Israel. “Then the people of the Lord went down to the city gates. / *The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
5:12 ‘Wake up, wake up, Deborah! Wake up, wake up, break out in song! Arise, Barak! Take captive your captives, son of Abinoam.’
5:13 “The remnant of the nobles came down; the people of the Lord came down to me against the mighty.
5:14 Some came from Ephraim, whose roots were in Amalek; Benjamin was with the people who followed you. From Makir captains came down, from Zebulun those who bear a commander’s* staff. / *The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
5:15 The princes of Issachar were with Deborah; yes, Issachar was with Barak, sent under his command into the valley. In the districts of Reuben there was much searching of heart.
5:16 Why did you stay among the sheep pens* to hear the whistling for the flocks? In the districts of Reuben there was much searching of heart. / *Or the campfires; or the saddlebags
5:17 Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan. And Dan, why did he linger by the ships? Asher remained on the coast and stayed in his coves.
5:18 The people of Zebulun risked their very lives; so did Naphtali on the terraced fields.
5:19 “Kings came, they fought, the kings of Canaan fought. At Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo, they took no plunder of silver.
5:20 From the heavens the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera.
5:21 The river Kishon swept them away, the age-old river, the river Kishon. March on, my soul; be strong!
5:22 Then thundered the horses’ hooves - galloping, galloping go his mighty steeds.
5:23 ‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the Lord. ‘Curse its people bitterly, because they did not come to help the Lord, to help the Lord against the mighty.’
5:24 “Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, most blessed of tent-dwelling women.
5:25 He asked for water, and she gave him milk; in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk.
5:26 Her hand reached for the tent peg, her right hand for the workman’s hammer. She struck Sisera, she crushed his head, she shattered and pierced his temple.
5:27 At her feet he sank, he fell; there he lay. At her feet he sank, he fell; where he sank, there he fell - dead.
5:28 “Through the window peered Sisera’s mother; behind the lattice she cried out, ‘Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why is the clatter of his chariots delayed?’
5:29 The wisest of her ladies answer her; indeed, she keeps saying to herself,
5:30 ‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoils: a woman or two for each man, colorful garments as plunder for Sisera, colorful garments embroidered, highly embroidered garments for my neck - all this as plunder?’
5:31 “So may all your enemies perish, Lord! But may all who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength.” Then the land had peace forty years.