Judges
Chapter 4
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Leningrad Codex, through the Open Scriptures Westminster Leningrad Codex. The written consonants are printed. A Masoretic reading is footnoted when it differs. No Dead Sea reading was substituted unless it was read from a fragment. The Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions are witnesses, not the default.
A dotted word is a harder one. Point at it, or tap it, for a short definition.
1The sons of Israel again did what was evil in the eyes of God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary.. Ehud was dead.
2God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, and he lived in Harosheth-haggoyim.
3The sons of Israel cried out to God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary., for he had nine hundred iron chariots, and he pressed the sons of Israel hard for twenty years.
4Deborah, a woman, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.
5She would sit under the palm of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel, in the hill country of Ephraim, and the sons of Israel went up to her for judgment.
6She sent and called Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh of Naphtali, and she said to him, Has not God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary., the God of Israel, commanded, Go, draw out to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun?
7I will draw out to you, to the A stream bed that keeps water, or runs when the rain comes. Kishon, Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariotry and his mass of men, and I will give him into your hand.
8Barak said to her, If you go with me, then I will go, and if you do not go with me, I will not go.
9She said, I will go, go with you. Only, the honor will not be yours on the way you are going, for God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.
10Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh. Ten thousand men went up at his feet, and Deborah went up with him.
11Heber the Kenite had separated from the Kenite, from the sons of Hobab, Moses’ father-in-law, and he had pitched his tent as far as the oak in Zaanim, which is by Kedesh.
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The written consonants are be-tsa’anim, “in Zaanim.” The Masoretic reading adds a nun, be-tsa’anannim, “in Zaanannim.” Joshua 19:33 writes the oak in Zaanannim. This line is not changed to match that.
12They told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor.
13Sisera called together all his chariotry, nine hundred iron chariots, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth-haggoyim to the A stream bed that keeps water, or runs when the rain comes. Kishon.
14Deborah said to Barak, Get up, for this is the day when God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. has given Sisera into your hand. Has not God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. gone out before you? Barak went down from Mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.
15God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. threw Sisera into confusion, and all the chariotry and all the camp, by the mouth of the sword, before Barak. Sisera got down from the chariot and fled on his feet.
16Barak chased the chariotry and the camp as far as Harosheth-haggoyim. All Sisera’s camp fell by the mouth of the sword. Not one was left.
17Sisera fled on his feet to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
18Jael went out to meet Sisera, and she said to him, Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me. Do not be afraid. He turned aside to her, into the tent, and she covered him with the rug.
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- Translation
Semikah is the rug she spread over him. Adoni here is “my lord,” not the divine name.
19He said to her, Give me a little water to drink, please, for I am thirsty. She opened the skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him.
20He said to her, Stand at the opening of the tent, and if a man comes and asks you and says, Is there a man here? you shall say, There is not.
21Jael, the wife of Heber, took a tent peg, put a hammer in her hand, came to him quietly, and drove the peg into his temple, and it sank into the ground. He was in a deep sleep, and he was weary, and he died.
22Look, Barak was chasing Sisera. Jael went out to meet him, and she said to him, Come, and I will show you the man you are looking for. He came in to her, and look, Sisera was lying dead, with the peg in his temple.
23God brought Jabin king of Canaan down that day before the sons of Israel.
24The hand of the sons of Israel went on, harder and harder, against Jabin king of Canaan, until they cut off Jabin king of Canaan.