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Judges 4

YHWH delivers Israel from Jabin’s oppression through Deborah’s leadership, Barak’s army, and Jael’s killing of Sisera.

After Ehud’s death, Israel again does evil in YHWH’s sight, and YHWH hands them over to Jabin, king of Canaan. Twenty years of oppression under Sisera’s nine hundred iron chariots bring Israel to cry for help. Deborah, a prophetess who judges Israel, summons Barak to lead troops against Sisera. Barak insists that she accompany him. YHWH defeats Sisera’s army, while the fleeing commander meets his death in Jael’s tent.

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1The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, when Ehud was dead.
2The LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth of the Gentiles.
3The children of Israel cried to the LORD, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and he mightily oppressed the children of Israel for twenty years.
4Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, judged Israel at that time.
5She lived under Deborah’s palm tree between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.
6She sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh Naphtali, and said to him, “Hasn’t the LORD, the God of Israel, commanded, ‘Go and lead the way to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?
7I will draw to you, to the river Kishon, Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into your hand.’”
8Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.”
9She said, “I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the journey that you take won’t be for your honor; for the LORD will sell Sisera into a woman’s hand.” Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.
10Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh. Ten thousand men followed him; and Deborah went up with him.
11Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, even from the children of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law, and had pitched his tent as far as the oak in Zaanannim, which is by Kedesh.
12They told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor.
13Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles, to the river Kishon.
14Deborah said to Barak, “Go; for this is the day in which the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hand. Hasn’t the LORD gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.
15The LORD confused Sisera, all his chariots, and all his army, with the edge of the sword before Barak. Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled away on his feet.
16But Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth of the Gentiles; and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword. There was not a man left.
17However Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
19He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink; for I am thirsty.” She opened a container of milk, and gave him a drink, and covered him.
21Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him, and struck the pin into his temples, and it pierced through into the ground, for he was in a deep sleep; so he fainted and died.
22Behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you seek.” He came to her; and behold, Sisera lay dead, and the tent peg was in his temples.
23So God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel on that day.
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Key verses
Judges 4:2Israel’s subjection to Jabin is presented as YHWH’s judgment, establishing God’s rule over the conflict that follows.
Judges 4:3Twenty years of oppression and nine hundred iron chariots frame Israel’s cry for help and the scale of its deliverance.
Judges 4:6Deborah’s summons grounds Barak’s military task in YHWH’s command, naming the troops and their gathering place.
Where this chapter reaches

Psalm recalls the defeat of Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon as a past act of God against Israel’s enemies. Exodus shares the pattern of an oppressed people crying out and YHWH overcoming a force whose military strength includes chariots.

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Questions people ask about Judges 4

Who was Deborah in Judges 4?

Deborah was a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, and a judge in Israel. People came to her for judgment beneath her palm tree between Ramah and Bethel. She conveyed YHWH’s command to Barak, accompanied him, and announced the day when he should advance against Sisera.

Why did Jael kill Sisera?

The chapter does not explain Jael’s motives. Sisera sought shelter with her because Jabin had peaceful relations with her husband’s household. She received him, then killed him with a tent peg while he slept. Her action fulfills Deborah’s prediction that YHWH would hand Sisera over to a woman.

Was Barak afraid to fight Sisera?

Barak says he will go if Deborah goes with him and will refuse if she does not. The text leaves his inner motive unstated. Deborah agrees to accompany him, but says the honor of the expedition will pass to a woman, into whose hand YHWH will deliver Sisera.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).