|
childrensbiblestudy.com text of the book of Judges |
|
|
Chapter 4 |
After Ehud died, the
Israelites once again did evil in the eyes of the Lord. So the Lord
sold them into the hands of Jabin, a king of Canaan, who reigned in
Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth
Haggoyim. Because he had nine hundred iron chariots and had cruelly
oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the Lord
for help.
Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at
that time. She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah
and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites came
to her to have their disputes decided. She sent for Barak son of
Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, "The Lord, the God
of Israel, commands you: 'Go, take with you ten thousand men of
Naphtali and Zebulun and lead the way to Mount Tabor. I will lure
Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his
troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.'"
Barak said to her, "If you go with me, I will go; but if you don't
go with me, I won't go." "Very well," Deborah said, "I will go with
you. But because of the way you are going about this, the
honor will not be yours, for the LORD will hand Sisera over to a
woman." So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh, where he summoned
Zebulun and Naphtali. Ten thousand men followed him, and Deborah
also went with him.
Now Heber the Kenite had left the other Kenites, the descendants of
Hobab, Moses' brother-in-law, and pitched his tent by the great tree
in Zaanannim near Kedesh. When they told Sisera that Barak son of
Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, Sisera gathered together his
nine hundred iron chariots and all the men with him, from Harosheth
Haggoyim to the Kishon River.
Then Deborah said to Barak, "Go! This is the day the Lord has given
Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?" So
Barak went down Mount Tabor, followed by ten thousand men. At
Barak's advance, the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and
army by the sword, and Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled on
foot. But Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth
Haggoyim. All the troops of Sisera fell by the sword; not a man was
left.
Sisera, however, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of
Heber the Kenite, because there were friendly relations between
Jabin king of Hazor and the clan of Heber the Kenite. Jael went out
to meet Sisera and said to him, "Come, my Lord , come right in.
Don't be afraid." So he entered her tent, and she put a covering
over him.
"I'm thirsty," he said. "Please give me some water." She opened a
skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up. "Stand in the
doorway of the tent," he told her. "If someone comes by and asks
you, 'Is anyone here?' say 'No.' "
But Jael, Heber's wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went
quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the
peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.
Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him.
"Come," she said, "I will show you the man you're looking for." So
he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through
his temple-dead.
On that day God subdued Jabin, the Canaanite king, before the
Israelites. And the hand of the Israelites grew stronger and
stronger against Jabin, the Canaanite king, until they destroyed
him. |
|
|
|
|
|