Judges 4-6

21st Century King James Version

4 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 reigned in Hazor, the captain of whose host was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles.

³ And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.

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

⁵ And she dwelt 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 Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedeshnaphtali, and said unto him, “Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded, saying, ‘Go and draw near Mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun;

⁷ and I will draw unto thee Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude to the River Kishon; and I will deliver him into thine hand’?”

⁸ And Barak said unto her, “If thou wilt go with me, then I will go; but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.”

⁹ And she said, “I will surely go with thee. Notwithstanding, the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine 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 heels; and Deborah went up with him.

¹¹ (Now Heber the Kenite, who was of the children of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites and pitched his tent unto the plain of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh.)

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

¹³ And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river of Kishon.

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

¹⁵ And the Lord discomfited Sisera and all his chariots and all his host with the edge of the sword before Barak, so that Sisera alighted down off his chariot and fled away on his feet.

¹⁶ But Barak pursued after the chariots and after the host unto Harosheth of the Gentiles; and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword, and there was not a man left.

¹⁷ However Sisera fled away 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 unto him, “Turn in, my lord, turn in to me. Fear not.” And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle.

¹⁹ And he said unto her, “Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty.” And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.

²⁰ Again he said unto her, “Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man doth come and inquire of thee and say, ‘Is there any man here?’ that thou shalt say, ‘No.’”

²¹ Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a nail of the tent and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground; for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.

²² And behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said unto him, “Come, and I will show thee the man whom thou seekest.” And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples.

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

²⁴ And the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

5 Then sang Deborah and Barak, the son of Abinoam, on that day, saying:

² “Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves.

³ “Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes. I, even I, will sing unto the Lord; I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel.

⁴ “Lord, when Thou wentest out of Seir, when Thou marched out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water.

⁵ The mountains melted from before the Lord, even that Sinai, from before the Lord God of Israel.

⁶ “In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travelers walked through byways.

⁷ The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until I, Deborah, arose, I arose a mother in Israel.

⁸ They chose new gods; then was war in the gates. Was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?

⁹ My heart is toward the governors of Israel that offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless ye the Lord.

¹⁰ “Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment and walk by the way.

¹¹ They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the Lord, even the righteous acts toward the inhabitants of His villages in Israel. Then shall the people of the Lord go down to the gates.

¹² “Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, utter a song! Arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam.

¹³ “Then He made him that remaineth have dominion over the nobles among the people; the Lord made me have dominion over the mighty.

¹⁴ Out of Ephraim was there a root of them against Amalek; after thee, Benjamin, among thy people; out of Machir came down governors, and out of Zebulun they that handle the pen of the writer.

¹⁵ And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah, even Issachar, and also Barak; he was sent on foot into the valley. In the divisions of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart.

¹⁶ Why abodest thou among the sheepfolds, to hear the bleatings of the flocks? In the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.

¹⁷ Gilead abode beyond the Jordan; and why did Dan remain in ships? Asher continued on the seashore and abode in his sheltered coves.

¹⁸ Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeopardized their lives unto the death in the high places of the field.

¹⁹ “The kings came and fought; then fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo; they took no gain of money.

²⁰ They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.

²¹ The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength!

²² Then were the horsehoofs broken by the means of the prancings, the prancings of their mighty ones.

²³ “‘Curse ye Meroz,’ said the angel of the Lord; ‘curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof, because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.’

²⁴ “Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be; blessed shall she be above women in the tent.

²⁵ He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish.

²⁶ She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen’s hammer. And with the hammer she smote Sisera; she smote off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples.

²⁷ At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down; at her feet he bowed, he fell; where he bowed, there he fell down dead.

²⁸ “The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice: ‘Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why tarry the wheels of his chariots?’

²⁹ Her wise ladies answered her, yea, she returned answer to herself:

³⁰ ‘Have they not sped? Have they not divided the prey: to every man a damsel or two, to Sisera a prey of divers colors, a prey of divers colors of needlework, of divers colors of needlework on both sides, meet for the necks of them that take the spoil?’

³¹ “So let all Thine enemies perish, O Lord! But let them that love Him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might.” And the land had rest forty years.

6 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.

² And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel; and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made for themselves the dens which are in the mountains and caves and strongholds.

³ And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the East, even they came up against them.

⁴ And they encamped against them and destroyed the increase of the earth till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor ass.

⁵ For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude, for both they and their camels were without number; and they entered into the land to destroy it.

⁶ And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried unto the Lord.

⁷ And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord because of the Midianites,

⁸ that the Lord sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, who said unto them, “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage;

⁹ and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their land.

¹⁰ And I said unto you: ‘I am the Lord your God. Fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell.’ But ye have not obeyed My voice.”

¹¹ And there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite; and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the wine press to hide it from the Midianites.

¹² And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him and said unto him, “The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor.”

¹³ And Gideon said unto him, “Oh my lord, if the Lord be with us, why then has all this befallen us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord hath forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”

¹⁴ And the Lord looked upon him, and said, “Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have not I sent thee?”

¹⁵ And he said unto Him, “Oh my Lord, with what shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”

¹⁶ And the Lord said unto him, “Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.”

¹⁷ And he said unto Him, “If now I have found grace in Thy sight, then show me a sign that Thou talkest with me.

¹⁸ Depart not hence, I pray Thee, until I come unto Thee and bring forth my present and set it before Thee.” And He said, “I will tarry until thou come again.”

¹⁹ And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour. The flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak and presented it.

²⁰ And the angel of God said unto him, “Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so.

²¹ Then the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight.

²² And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face.”

²³ And the Lord said unto him, “Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.”

²⁴ Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord and called it Jehovahshalom [that is, The Lord send peace]. Unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

²⁵ And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him, “Take thy father’s young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the Asherah pole that is by it;

²⁶ and build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock in the ordered place, and take the second bullock and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the Asherah pole which thou shalt cut down.”

²⁷ Then Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had said unto him. And so it was, because he feared his father’s household and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, so that he did it by night.

²⁸ And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down and the Asherah pole was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built.

²⁹ And they said one to another, “Who hath done this thing?” And when they inquired and asked, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing.”

³⁰ Then the men of the city said unto Joash, “Bring out thy son, that he may die, because he hath cast down the altar of Baal and because he hath cut down the Asherah pole that was by it.”

³¹ And Joash said unto all who stood against him, “Will ye plead for Baal? Will ye save him? He that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning. If he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar.”

³² Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, “Let Baal plead against him, because he hath thrown down his altar.”

³³ Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the East were gathered together, and went over and pitched camp in the Valley of Jezreel.

³⁴ But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and the Abiezrites were gathered after him.

³⁵ And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also were gathered after him; and he sent messengers unto Asher and unto Zebulun and unto Naphtali, and they came up to meet them.

³⁶ And Gideon said unto God, “If Thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as Thou hast said—

³⁷ behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that Thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as Thou hast said.”

³⁸ And it was so; for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.

³⁹ And Gideon said unto God, “Let not Thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once. Let me prove, I pray Thee, but this once with the fleece: Let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.”

⁴⁰ And God did so that night; for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.