1Then Deborah and Barak, Abinoam’s son, sang this song that day:
2“Because the leaders in Israel stepped up, because the people willingly offered themselves, praise Yahweh!
3“Listen, all you kings! Pay attention, all you princes! I, myself, will sing to Yahweh. I will sing praises to Yahweh, the God of Israel.
4“Yahweh, when you left Seir, when you marched from the land of Edom, the earth shook, the sky also rained. Yes, the clouds poured down water.
5The mountains trembled before Yahweh, even Sinai before Yahweh, the God of Israel.
6“In the days of Shamgar, Anath’s son, in the days of Jael, the main roads were empty. Travelers used back roads.
7Leadership stopped in Israel. It stopped until I, Deborah, arrived; until I, a mother in Israel, arrived.
8They chose new gods. Then there was war at the city gates. Was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?
9My heart goes out to the leaders of Israel, who willingly offered themselves among the people. Praise Yahweh!
10“Speak up, you who ride on white donkeys, you who sit on expensive carpets, and you who walk along the road.
11Away from the noise of archers, at the places where water is drawn, people will tell about Yahweh’s righteous acts, the righteous acts of his rule in Israel. “Then Yahweh’s people went down to the gates.
12‘Wake up, wake up, Deborah! Wake up, wake up, sing a song! Get up, Barak, and take your prisoners, you son of Abinoam.’
13“Then a small group of nobles and people came down. Yahweh came down to help me against the powerful.
14Those from Amalek came out of Ephraim, following you, Benjamin, among your people. Leaders came down from Machir. Those who carry the commander’s staff came out of Zebulun.
15The princes of Issachar were with Deborah. As Issachar went, so did Barak. They rushed into the valley on foot. Among the clans of Reuben, there were great decisions made.
16Why did you stay among the sheep pens? To listen to the shepherds calling their flocks? Among the clans of Reuben, there was much soul-searching.
17Gilead stayed on the other side of the Jordan River. Why did Dan remain with his ships? Asher stayed by the seashore and lived beside his inlets.
18Zebulun was a people who risked their lives even to death; Naphtali also, on the heights of the battlefield.
19The kings came and fought; the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo, but they didn't take any silver as loot.
20The stars fought from the sky; from their paths, they fought against Sisera.
21The Kishon River swept them away, that ancient river, the Kishon River. My soul, march on with strength!
22Then the horses' hooves pounded because of the galloping, the galloping of their mighty steeds.
23"Curse Meroz," said Yahweh's angel. "Bitterly curse its people, because they didn't come to help Yahweh, to help Yahweh against the powerful."
24Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, will be blessed more than other women; she will be blessed more than women in tents.
25He asked for water, and she gave him milk. She brought him curds in a fancy bowl.
26She reached for a tent peg with one hand and a workman's hammer with the other. With the hammer, she struck Sisera. She smashed through his head and pierced and shattered his temples.
27At her feet, he crumpled, he fell, he lay. At her feet, he crumpled, he fell. Where he crumpled, there he fell down dead.
28Through the window, Sisera's mother looked out and cried from behind the lattice, "Why is his chariot taking so long to arrive? Why are the wheels of his chariots delayed?"
29Her wise ladies answered her, and she even gave herself an answer:
30"Haven't they found and divided the loot? A woman or two for every man; for Sisera, a prize of dyed clothes, a prize of embroidered dyed clothes, of embroidered dyed clothes on both sides, for the necks of the captives?"
31So may all your enemies die, Yahweh, but may those who love him be like the sun rising in its full power. Then the land had rest for forty years.