Judges 4

1. And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD when Ehud was dead.

2. And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who ruled in Hazor. The captain of his host was Sisera who lived in Harosheth of the nations.

3. And the children of Israel cried to the LORD, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron. And he mightily oppressed the children of Israel twenty years.

4. And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, judged Israel at that time.

5. And she lived under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in Mount Ephraim. And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.

6. And she sent and called for Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “Has not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying, ‘Go and draw toward Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?

7. And I will draw Sisera to you, the captain of Jabin’s army, at the river Kishon, together with his chariots and his multitude. And I will deliver him into your hands.’ ”

8. And Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go. But if you will not go with me, I will not go.”

9. And she said, “I will surely go with you. But the journey that you take shall not be for your honor, for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” And Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.

10. And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh. And he went up with ten thousand men at his feet. And Deborah went up with him.

11. And Heber the Kenite, of the children of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, had separated himself from the Kenites and pitched his tent toward the plain of Zaanaim, near Kedesh.

12. And they told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor.

13. And Sisera gathered all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people with him, from Harosheth of the nations to the river of Kishon.

14. And Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the LORD gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor and ten thousand men after him.

15. And the LORD struck Sisera, and all the chariots, and all the army, with the edge of the sword in front of Barak, so that Sisera got down from the chariot and fled on his feet.

16. But Barak pursued after the chariots and the army, to Harosheth of the nations. And all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword. There was not a man left.

17. And Sisera fled on his feet to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.

18. And Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Turn in my lord, turn in to me. Do not fear.” When he had turned aside to her into the tent, she covered him with a rug.

19. And he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” And she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink, and covered him.

20. Again he said to her, “Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be when any man comes asking of you, saying, ‘Is there any man here?’ You shall say, ‘No.’”

21. Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a peg of the tent and put a hammer in her hand,and went softly to him, and struck the peg into his temple, and beat it into the ground, for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.

22. And behold, as Barak followed Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said to him, “Come and I will show you the man whom you seek.” And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the peg was in his temple.

23. And on that day God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel.

24. And the hand of the children of Israel went on, and pressed hard against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.