Judges 5:14-27

You men of Ephraim came out to the valley, your brother Benjamin joined your ranks. Leaders came from Manasseh, and from Zebulun, those who hold the ruler’s staff. Issachar’s princes rallied to Deborah, Issachar stood fast alongside Barak, rushing into the valley under Barak’s command, while among Reuben’s clans there was great searching of heart. Reuben, why do you remain by the sheepfolds, listening for the shepherds to whistle for their flocks? Among Reuben’s clans there was great searching of heart. Gad played it safe and stayed east of the Jordan, and Dan lingered near their ships, while Asher kept their distance and stayed by the coast, safe and secure in their harbors. But Zebulun and Naphtali defied death and risked it all on the heights of the battlefield. At Taanach foreign kings came and clashed; they battled by the stream of Megiddo. The kings of Canaan fought, but they took away no spoils of silver. Even the stars in the sky joined in the fight, moving across the sky, shining as they fought against Sisera. The flooding Kishon swept them away— the ancient Kishon River contended with them. I shall march and keep marching on. So be strong, O my soul! Then thundered the horses’ hooves, pulling the chariots of the kings of Canaan. Here they come galloping on, steeds and stallions stampeding on, but they all got stuck in the mud! “Speak a curse over Meroz,” says the angel of YAHWEH, “and speak a double curse over those who live there. For they did not come to help YAHWEH’s cause nor rally to YAHWEH’s side to fight the mighty.” The most blessed of all women is Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite— the most fortunate of Bedouin women. Sisera came to Jael’s tent and asked for water, but she gave him milk; she brought him buttermilk in a beautiful bowl. With a tent peg in one hand and a workman’s hammer in the other, she struck Sisera and pierced his skull; she drove the peg through his temple. She shattered his skull, and he lay still before Jael. Sprawled on the tent floor, he bit the dust at her feet— deader than a doornail!