Judges 4:1-7

Deborah and Barak

1 The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud had died.

2 So the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his forces was Sisera who lived in Harosheth of the Nations.^[a]

3 Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord, because Jabin had 900 iron chariots, and he harshly oppressed them 20 years.

4 Deborah, a woman who was a prophet and the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.

5 It was her custom to sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her for judgment.

6 She summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, "Hasn't the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded [you]: 'Go, deploy [the troops] on Mount Tabor, and take with you 10,000 men from the Naphtalites and Zebulunites?

7 Then I will lure Sisera commander of Jabin's forces, his chariots, and his army at the Wadi Kishon [to fight] against you, and I will hand him over to you.' "

Judges 4:1-7 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 4

This chapter shows how that Israel sinning was delivered into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, by whom they were oppressed twenty years, Jud 4:1-3; and that Deborah and Barak consulted together about their deliverance, Jud 4:4-9; and that Barak, encouraged by Deborah, gathered some forces and fought Sisera the captain of Jabin's army, whom he met, and obtained a victory over, Jud 4:10-15; who fleeing on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber, was received into it, and slain by her while asleep in it, Jud 4:16-22; which issued in a complete deliverance of the children of Israel, Jud 4:23,24.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or Harosheth-ha-goiim