1Then on that day Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang:
2Praise the LORD for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves.
3Hear, O kings; listen, O princes. I, even I, will sing to the LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD God of Israel.
4LORD, when you went out from Seir, when you marched out of the field of Edom, the earth shook, and the heavens poured down; the clouds also poured down water.
5The mountains melted before the LORD, even Sinai melted before the LORD God of Israel.
6In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways lay empty, and travellers walked along winding paths.
7The people of the villages ceased; they ceased in Israel, until I, Deborah, arose, until I arose, a mother in Israel.
8They chose new gods; then there was war in the gates. Was a shield or a spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?
9My heart goes out to the leaders of Israel, who offered themselves willingly among the people. Praise the LORD.
10Speak, you who ride on white donkeys, you who sit in judgment, and you who walk by the way.
11Those who are saved from the noise of the archers, at the places where water is drawn, there they will tell again the righteous acts of the LORD, the righteous acts toward the people of his villages in Israel. Then the people of the LORD will go down to the gates.
12Awake, awake, Deborah; awake, awake, sing a song. Arise, Barak, and lead your captives away, you son of Abinoam.
13Then he made the one who remained rule over the nobles among the people; the LORD made me rule over the mighty.
14Out of Ephraim came a root of them against Amalek; after you, Benjamin, among your people. Out of Machir came down leaders, and out of Zebulun those who handle the pen of the writer.
15And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah; Issachar was there, and Barak also: he was sent on foot into the valley. Among the divisions of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart.
16Why did you stay among the sheepfolds, to hear the bleating of the flocks? Among the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.
17Gilead stayed beyond Jordan. And why did Dan remain in ships? Asher stayed on the sea shore, and remained in his breaches.
18Zebulun and Naphtali were a people who risked their lives to the death on the high places of the field.
19The kings came and fought; then the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo; they took no gain of money.
20They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.
21The river Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, you have trodden down strength.
22Then the horses' hoofs were broken by their galloping, the galloping of their mighty ones.
23"Curse Meroz," said the angel of the LORD, "curse its people bitterly, because they did not come to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty."
24Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite will be blessed above women; blessed above women in the tent will she be.
25He asked for water, and she gave him milk; she brought him butter in a lordly dish.
26She put her hand to the tent peg, and her right hand to the workman's hammer. With the hammer she struck Sisera; she struck off his head, when she had pierced and struck through his temples.
27At her feet he sank down, he fell, he lay still. At her feet he sank down, he fell; where he sank down, there he fell down dead.
28The mother of Sisera looked out of a window, and cried through the lattice, "Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why are the wheels of his chariots so slow?"
29Her wise ladies answered her; yes, she gave herself this answer:
30"Have they not had success? Have they not divided the spoil? To every man a girl or two; to Sisera spoil of many colours, spoil of many colours in needlework, of many colours in needlework on both sides, fit for the necks of those who take the spoil?"
31So let all your enemies perish, O LORD; but let those who love him be like the sun when it rises in its strength. And the land had rest for forty years.