Add parallel Print Page Options

12 Awake, awake, Deborah!
    Awake, awake, strike up a song!
Arise, Barak!
    Take captive your captors, son of Abinoam!
13 Then down went Israel against the mighty,
    the army of the Lord went down for him against the warriors.
14 [a]From Ephraim, their base in the valley;
    behind you, Benjamin, among your troops.
From Machir came down commanders,
    from Zebulun wielders of the marshal’s staff.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 5:14–22 The poet praises the tribes that participated in the war against Sisera: Ephraim, Benjamin, Machir (later regarded as a clan of Manasseh), Zebulun, Issachar, and Naphtali, the tribe of Barak (cf. 4:6). By contrast, the tribes of Reuben, Gilead (elsewhere a region occupied by Reubenites and Gadites), Dan, and Asher are chided for their lack of participation. The more distant tribes of Judah and Simeon are not mentioned, and some historians believe they were not part of Israel at this time.