Judges 5
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New English Translation

Judges 5:20-31

20From the sky the stars fought, from their paths in the heavens they fought against Sisera.

21The Kishon River carried them off; the river confronted them – the Kishon River. Step on the necks of the strong!

22The horses’ hooves pounded the ground; the stallions galloped madly.

23‘Call judgment down on Meroz,’ says the Lord’s angelic messenger; ‘Be sure to call judgment down on those who live there, because they did not come to help in the Lord’s battle, to help in the Lord’s battle against the warriors.’

24The most rewarded of women should be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite! She should be the most rewarded of women who live in tents.

25He asked for water, and she gave him milk; in a bowl fit for a king, she served him curds.

26Her left hand reached for the tent peg, her right hand for the workmen’s hammer. She “hammered” Sisera, she shattered his skull, she smashed his head, she drove the tent peg through his temple.

27Between her feet he collapsed, he fell limp and was lifeless; between her feet he collapsed and fell limp, in the spot where he collapsed, there he fell limp – violently murdered!

28Through the window she looked; Sisera’s mother cried out through the lattice: ‘Why is his chariot so slow to return? Why are the hoofbeats of his chariot-horses delayed?’

29The wisest of her ladies answer; indeed she even thinks to herself,

30‘No doubt they are gathering and dividing the plunder – a girl or two for each man to rape! Sisera is grabbing up colorful cloth, he is grabbing up colorful embroidered cloth, two pieces of colorful embroidered cloth, for the neck of the plunderer!’

31May all your enemies perish like this, O Lord! But may those who love you shine like the rising sun at its brightest!” And the land had rest for forty years.

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Commentaries on Judges 5

New English Translation — © 1996-2016 Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C.