UNROLL
The River Kishon at dawn the day after a storm: a quiet, brimming stream between flattened reeds, the clay plain shining with pools of water, the dome of Mount Tabor small and dark on the horizon.

The Book of

Judges 5

The same battle, sung this time: the earth shook, the stars fought, and an ancient river swept the chariots away.

31 verses≈ 5 min4 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

  1. 1–2Not finishedThe land left half-taken
  2. 3–5The cycleSin, oppression, a delivererChapter 5
  3. 6–10Gideon and afterA weak man, a strong God
  4. 11–16Jephthah and SamsonFlawed deliverers
  5. 17–21No king in IsraelEveryone did as he saw fit

The Song of Deborah and Barak

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

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Sunrise on the rounded summit of Mount Tabor: Deborah and Barak seen from behind with their hands lifted, a few hundred men small along the slope below, the Jezreel plain shining with floodwater far beneath.

“When the princes take the lead in Israel,

when the people volunteer,

bless the LORD.

Listen, O kings! Give ear, O princes!

I will sing to the LORD;

I will sing praise to the LORD,

the God of Israel.

0:14

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Deborah
Deborah

O LORD, when You went out from Seir,

when You marched from the land of Edom,

the earth trembled, the heavens poured out rain,

and the clouds poured down water.

The mountains quaked before the LORD,

the One of Sinai,

before the LORD,

the God of Israel.

Deborah

My heart is with the princes of Israel,

with the volunteers among the people.

Bless the LORD!

Deborah
Deborah

You who ride white donkeys,

who sit on saddle blankets,

and you who travel the road,

ponder

the voices of the singers at the watering places. There they shall recount the righteous acts of the LORD, the righteous deeds of His villagers in Israel.

Reflect

Tell it at the well

At the watering places, ordinary people stopped to listen, and “There they shall recount the righteous acts of the LORD.” The victory was not only won; it was retold. Write down one thing God has done for you or your family that is worth telling again. Then write the name of one person you will tell this week.

Then the people of the LORD went down to the gates: ‘Awake, awake, O Deborah! Awake, awake, sing a song! Arise, O Barak, and take hold of your captives, O son of Abinoam!’

The tribes

Who came, who stayed

  1. Came

    The survivors came down

    Then the survivors came down to the nobles;

    the people of the LORD came down to me against the mighty.

  2. Ephraim and Benjamin

    Some came from Ephraim, with their roots in Amalek; Benjamin came with your people after you.

  3. Machir and Zebulun

    The commanders came down from Machir, the bearers of the marshal’s staff from Zebulun.

  4. Issachar with Deborah and Barak

    The princes of Issachar were with Deborah, and Issachar was with Barak, rushing into the valley at his heels.

  5. Stayed

    Reuben: great indecision

    In the clans of Reuben there was great indecision.

  6. Sitting among the sheepfolds

    Why did you sit among the sheepfolds to hear the whistling for the flocks?

  7. Reuben’s indecision again

    In the clans of Reuben there was great indecision.

  8. Gilead beyond the Jordan

    Gilead remained beyond the Jordan.

  9. Dan lingering by the ships

    Dan, why did you linger by the ships?

  10. Asher in his harbors

    Asher stayed at the coast and remained in his harbors.

  11. Came

    Zebulun and Naphtali risked their lives

    Zebulun was a people who risked their lives;

    Naphtali, too, on the heights of the battlefield.

Zebulun was a people who risked their lives; Naphtali, too, on the heights of the battlefield.

Judges 5:18

Question

Quick question

The song calls the roll of the tribes: some came down to fight, some stayed home.

In the song, which tribe lingered by the ships?

Deborah
Deborah

Kings came and fought;

then the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach

by the waters of Megiddo,

but they took no plunder of silver.

From the heavens the stars fought; from their courses they fought against Sisera.

Under a dark, rain-heavy sky, the little Kishon burst from its reed banks across the flat clay plain in a wide brown flood, two empty two-wheeled chariots tilted and half sunk in it.

The River Kishon swept them away, the ancient river, the River Kishon.

March on, O my soul, in strength!

Deborah
Deborah

Then the hooves of horses thundered—

the mad galloping of his stallions.

‘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 against the mighty.’

Most blessed among women is Jael,

the wife of Heber the Kenite,

most blessed of tent-dwelling women.

Deborah
Deborah

He asked for water, and she gave him milk.

In a magnificent bowl she brought him curds.

She reached for the tent peg,

her right hand for the workman’s hammer.

She struck Sisera and crushed his skull;

she shattered and pierced his temple.

At her feet he collapsed, he fell,

there he lay still;

at her feet he collapsed, he fell;

where he collapsed, there he fell dead.

Dusk inside a Canaanite great house: an older noblewoman in a richly dyed robe, seen from behind, stands at a tall window screened with a wooden lattice, looking out at an empty road across the plain; two younger women wait behind her.

Sisera’s mother looked through the window;

she peered through the lattice and lamented:

‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?

What has delayed the clatter of his chariots?’

Her wisest ladies answer;

indeed she keeps telling herself,

‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoil—

a girl or two for each warrior,

a plunder of dyed garments for Sisera,

the spoil of embroidered garments

for the neck of the looter?’

So may all Your enemies perish, O LORD! But may those who love You shine like the sun at its brightest.”

Judges 5:31

And the land had rest for forty years.

Pray

Like the sun

Deborah ends her song with a prayer: “But may those who love You shine like the sun at its brightest.” Thank the LORD that He fought for His people when they had “Not a shield or spear” of their own, and that He gave the land rest. Ask Him to make you one of “those who love You”: steady, warm and bright where He has put you.

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Judges 5

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A verse to carry with you

But may those who love You shine like the sun at its brightest.

Judges 5:31

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