Judges 5:19-31

Revised Standard Version

¹⁹ “The kings came, they fought;
    then fought the kings of Canaan,
at Ta′anach, by the waters of Megid′do;
    they got no spoils of silver.
²⁰ From heaven fought the stars,
    from their courses they fought against Sis′era.
²¹ The torrent Kishon swept them away,
    the onrushing torrent, the torrent Kishon.
    March on, my soul, with might!

²² “Then loud beat the horses’ hoofs
    with the galloping, galloping of his steeds.

²³ “Curse Meroz, says the angel of the Lord,
    curse bitterly its inhabitants,
because they came not to the help of the Lord,
    to the help of the Lord against the mighty.

²⁴ “Most blessed of women be Ja′el,
    the wife of Heber the Ken′ite,
    of tent-dwelling women most blessed.
²⁵ He asked water and she gave him milk,
    she brought him curds in a lordly bowl.
²⁶ She put her hand to the tent peg
    and her right hand to the workmen’s mallet;
she struck Sis′era a blow,
    she crushed his head,
    she shattered and pierced his temple.
²⁷ He sank, he fell,
    he lay still at her feet;
at her feet he sank, he fell;
    where he sank, there he fell dead.

²⁸ “Out of the window she peered,
    the mother of Sis′era gazed^[a] through the lattice:
‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?
    Why tarry the hoofbeats of his chariots?’
²⁹ Her wisest ladies make answer,
    nay, she gives answer to herself,
³⁰ ‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoil?—
    A maiden or two for every man;
spoil of dyed stuffs for Sis′era,
    spoil of dyed stuffs embroidered,
    two pieces of dyed work embroidered for my neck as spoil?’

³¹ “So perish all thine enemies, O Lord!
    But thy friends be like the sun as he rises in his might.”