² For that the leaders took the lead in Israel,
For that the people offered themselves willingly,
Bless ye Jehovah.
³ Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes;
I, even I, will sing unto Jehovah;
I will sing praise to Jehovah, the God of Israel.
⁴ Jehovah, when thou wentest forth out of Seir,
When thou marchedst out of the field of Edom,
The earth trembled, the heavens also dropped,
Yea, the clouds dropped water.
⁵ The mountains ^[a]quaked at the presence of Jehovah,
Even yon Sinai at the presence of Jehovah, the God of Israel.

⁶ In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath,
In the days of Jael, ^[b]the highways were unoccupied,
And the travellers walked through ^[c]byways.
^7 [d]The rulers ceased in Israel, they ceased,
Until that I Deborah arose,
That 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,
^[e]That offered themselves willingly among the people:
Bless ye Jehovah.
¹⁰ Tell of it, ye that ride on white asses,
Ye that sit on rich carpets,
And ye that walk by the way.
^11 [f]Far from the noise of archers, in the places of drawing water,
There shall they rehearse the righteous acts of Jehovah,
Even the righteous acts ^[g]of his rule in Israel.
Then the people of Jehovah went down to the gates.

¹² Awake, awake, Deborah;
Awake, awake, utter a song:
Arise, Barak, and lead away thy captives, thou son of Abinoam.
^13 [h]Then came down a remnant of the nobles ^[i]and the people;
Jehovah came down for me ^[j]against the mighty.
¹⁴ Out of Ephraim came down they whose root is in Amalek;
After thee, Benjamin, among thy peoples;
Out of Machir came down ^[k]governors,
And out of Zebulun they that handle ^[l]the marshal’s staff.
¹⁵ And ^[m]the princes of Issachar were with Deborah;
As was Issachar, so was Barak;
Into the valley they rushed forth at his feet.
By the watercourses of Reuben
There were great resolves of heart.
¹⁶ Why sattest thou among the sheepfolds,
To hear the pipings for the flocks?
At the watercourses of Reuben
There were great searchings of heart.
¹⁷ Gilead abode beyond the Jordan:
And Dan, why did he remain in ships?
Asher sat still at the ^[n]haven of the sea,
And abode by his creeks.
¹⁸ Zebulun was a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death,
And Naphtali, upon 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 From heaven fought the stars,
From their courses they fought against Sisera.
²¹ The river Kishon swept them away,
That ancient river, the river Kishon.
O my soul, ^[o]march on with strength.
²² Then did the horsehoofs stamp
By reason of the prancings, the prancings of their strong ones.
²³ Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of Jehovah.
Curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof,
Because they came not to the help of Jehovah,
To the help of Jehovah ^[p]against the mighty.

²⁴ Blessed ^[q]above women shall Jael be,
The wife of Heber the Kenite;
Blessed shall she be ^[r]above women in the tent.
²⁵ He asked water, and she gave him milk;
She brought him butter in a lordly dish.
²⁶ She put her hand to the tent-pin,
And her right hand to the workmen’s hammer;
And with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote through his head;
Yea, she pierced and struck through his temples.
²⁷ At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay;
At her feet he bowed, he fell:
Where he bowed, there he fell down ^[s]dead.

²⁸ Through the window she looked forth, and cried,
The mother of Sisera cried through the lattice,
Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why tarry the ^[t]wheels of his chariots?
²⁹ Her wise ladies answered her,
^[u]Yea, she returned answer to herself,
³⁰ Have they not found, have they not divided the spoil?
A damsel, two damsels to every man;
To Sisera a spoil of dyed garments,
A spoil of dyed garments embroidered,
Of dyed garments embroidered on both sides, on the necks of the spoil?
³¹ So let all thine enemies perish, O Jehovah:
But let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might.