Study

The Song of Deborah

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

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“When locks are long in Israel,

when the people offer themselves willingly—

bless the L ord!

 

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“Hear, O kings; give ear, O princes;

to the L ord I will sing,

I will make melody to the L ord, the God of Israel.

 

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“L ord, when you went out from Seir,

when you marched from the region of Edom,

the earth trembled,

and the heavens poured,

the clouds indeed poured water.

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The mountains quaked before the L ord, the One of Sinai,

before the L ord, the God of Israel.

 

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“In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,

in the days of Jael, caravans ceased

and travelers kept to the byways.

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The peasantry prospered in Israel,

they grew fat on plunder,

because you arose, Deborah,

arose as a mother in Israel.

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When new gods were chosen,

then war was in the gates.

Was shield or spear to be seen

among forty thousand in Israel?

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My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel

who offered themselves willingly among the people.

Bless the L ord.

 

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“Tell of it, you who ride on white donkeys,

you who sit on rich carpets

and you who walk by the way.

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To the sound of musicians at the watering places,

there they repeat the triumphs of the L ord,

the triumphs of his peasantry in Israel.

 

“Then down to the gates marched the people of the L ord.

 

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“Awake, awake, Deborah!

Awake, awake, utter a song!

Arise, Barak, lead away your captives,

O son of Abinoam.

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Then down marched the remnant of the noble;

the people of the L ord marched down for him against the mighty.

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From Ephraim they set out into the valley,

following you, Benjamin, with your kin;

from Machir marched down the commanders,

and from Zebulun those who bear the marshal’s staff;

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the chiefs of Issachar came with Deborah,

and Issachar faithful to Barak;

into the valley they rushed out at his heels.

Among the clans of Reuben

there were great searchings of heart.

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Why did you tarry among the sheepfolds,

to hear the piping for the flocks?

Among the clans of Reuben

there were great searchings of heart.

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Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan;

and Dan, why did he abide with the ships?

Asher sat still at the coast of the sea,

settling down by his landings.

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Zebulun is a people that scorned death;

Naphtali too, on the heights of the field.

 

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“The kings came, they fought;

then fought the kings of Canaan,

at Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo;

they got no spoils of silver.

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The stars fought from heaven,

from their courses they fought against Sisera.

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The torrent Kishon swept them away,

the onrushing torrent, the torrent Kishon.

March on, my soul, with might!

 

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“Then loud beat the horses’ hoofs

with the galloping, galloping of his steeds.

 

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“Curse Meroz, says the angel of the L ord,

curse bitterly its inhabitants,

because they did not come to the help of the L ord,

to the help of the L ord against the mighty.

 

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“Most blessed of women be Jael,

the wife of Heber the Kenite,

of tent-dwelling women most blessed.

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He asked water and she gave him milk,

she brought him curds in a lordly bowl.

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She put her hand to the tent peg

and her right hand to the workmen’s mallet;

she struck Sisera a blow,

she crushed his head,

she shattered and pierced his temple.

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He sank, he fell,

he lay still at her feet;

at her feet he sank, he fell;

where he sank, there he fell dead.

 

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“Out of the window she peered,

the mother of Sisera gazed through the lattice:

‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?

Why tarry the hoofbeats of his chariots?’

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Her wisest ladies make answer,

indeed, she answers the question herself:

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‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoil?—

A girl or two for every man;

spoil of dyed stuffs for Sisera,

spoil of dyed stuffs embroidered,

two pieces of dyed work embroidered for my neck as spoil?’

 

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“So perish all your enemies, O L ord!

But may your friends be like the sun as it rises in its might.”

 

And the land had rest forty years.