Judges 5

¹Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord: “I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted. The horse and rider He has thrown into the sea.

³and they sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb: “Great and wonderful are Your works, O Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the nations!

⁴Who will not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed.”

¹In that day you will say: “O Lord, I will praise You. Although You were angry with me, Your anger has turned away, and You have comforted me.

²Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. For the Lord God is my strength and my song, and He also has become my salvation.”

¹For the choirmaster. Of David the servant of the Lord, who sang this song to the Lord on the day the Lord had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said: I love You, O Lord, my strength.

¹After this I heard a sound like the roar of a great multitude in heaven, shouting: “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God!

²For His judgments are true and just. He has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality. He has avenged the blood of His servants that was poured out by her hand.”

⁴⁶Then Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord,

⁹My heart is with the princes of Israel, with the volunteers among the people. Bless the Lord!

³Your people shall be willing on Your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendor, from the womb of the dawn, to You belongs the dew of Your youth.

¹⁶and next to him, Amasiah son of Zichri, the volunteer for the Lord, and with him 200,000 mighty men of valor.

¹³For it is God who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good purpose.

¹⁹Sihon king of the Amorites His loving devotion endures forever.

²⁰and Og king of Bashan—His loving devotion endures forever.

¹⁴But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that your goodness will not be out of compulsion, but by your own free will.

⁴All the kings of the earth will give You thanks, O Lord, when they hear the words of Your mouth.

⁵They will sing of the ways of the Lord, for the glory of the Lord is great.

⁴⁶I will speak of Your testimonies before kings, and I will not be ashamed.

¹⁰Therefore be wise, O kings; be admonished, O judges of the earth.

¹¹Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

¹For the choirmaster. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all inhabitants of the world,

²both low and high, rich and poor alike.

²¹I, King Artaxerxes, decree to all the treasurers west of the Euphrates: Whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven, may require of you, it must be provided promptly,

¹⁴“I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of Hosts,” he replied, “but the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well.”

²He said: “The Lord came from Sinai and dawned upon us from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran and came with myriads of holy ones, with flaming fire at His right hand.

¹⁷The clouds poured down water; the skies resounded with thunder; Your arrows flashed back and forth.

⁷O God, when You went out before Your people, when You marched through the wasteland, Selah

⁸the earth shook and the heavens poured down rain before God, the One on Sinai, before God, the God of Israel.

⁷Then the earth shook and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains trembled; they were shaken because He burned with anger.

⁸Smoke rose from His nostrils, and consuming fire came from His mouth; glowing coals blazed forth.

⁶He shakes the earth from its place, so that its foundations tremble.

⁸Then the earth shook and quaked; the foundations of the heavens trembled; they were shaken because He burned with anger.

¹⁸Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke, because the Lord had descended on it in fire. And the smoke rose like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently.

⁵The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth.

⁵The mountains quake before Him, and the hills melt away; the earth trembles at His presence—the world and all its dwellers.

¹If only You would rend the heavens and come down, so that mountains would quake at Your presence,

²as fire kindles the brushwood and causes the water to boil, to make Your name known to Your enemies, so that the nations will tremble at Your presence!

¹⁸For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom, and storm;

¹⁰The mountains saw You and quaked; torrents of water swept by. The deep roared with its voice and lifted its hands on high.

⁸The highways are deserted; travel has ceased. The treaty has been broken, the witnesses are despised, and human life is disregarded.

³¹After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath. And he too saved Israel, striking down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad.

⁴The roads to Zion mourn, because no one comes to her appointed feasts. All her gates are deserted; her priests groan, her maidens grieve, and she herself is bitter with anguish.

²²I will send wild animals against you to rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and reduce your numbers, until your roads lie desolate.

⁵But those who turn to crooked ways the Lord will banish with the evildoers. Peace be upon Israel.

¹⁸They stalked our every step, so that we could not walk in our streets. Our end drew near, our time ran out, for our end had come!

¹⁹I am among the peaceable and faithful in Israel, but you are trying to destroy a city that is a mother in Israel. Why would you swallow up the Lord’s inheritance?”

²³Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow to you facedown and lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord; those who hope in Me will never be put to shame.”

¹³Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me as well.

¹⁹This is why the rural Jews, who live in the villages, observe the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day of joy and feasting. It is a holiday for sending gifts to one another.

⁴Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.

⁵And she would sit under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, where the Israelites would go up to her for judgment.

¹⁶They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods; they enraged Him with abominations.

¹⁷They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they had not known, to newly arrived gods, which your fathers did not fear.

¹⁷Israel, however, did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted themselves with other gods and bowed down to them. They quickly turned from the way of their fathers, who had walked in obedience to the Lord’s commandments; they did not do as their fathers had done.

¹²Thus they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they followed after various gods of the peoples around them. They bowed down to them and provoked the Lord to anger,

³Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord, because Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he had harshly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.

¹⁹And no blacksmith could be found in all the land of Israel, because the Philistines had said, “The Hebrews must not be allowed to make swords or spears.”

²⁰Instead, all the Israelites would go down to the Philistines to sharpen their plowshares, mattocks, axes, and sickles.

²“When the princes take the lead in Israel, when the people volunteer, bless the Lord.

³For I testify that they gave according to their ability and even beyond it. Of their own accord,

⁴they earnestly pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints.

⁹And the people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given to the Lord freely and wholeheartedly. And King David also rejoiced greatly.

⁵So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you beforehand and make arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. This way, your gift will be prepared generously and not begrudgingly.

¹⁷For not only did he welcome our appeal, but he is eagerly coming to you of his own volition.

¹²For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.

¹⁴He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. And he judged Israel eight years.

⁴He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys. And they had thirty towns in the land of Gilead, which to this day are called Havvoth-jair.

²Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; tell of all His wonders.

¹¹They will tell of the glory of Your kingdom and speak of Your might,

⁶a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and a strength to those who repel the onslaught at the gate.

⁵the glorious splendor of Your majesty. And I will meditate on Your wondrous works.

⁵My people, remember what Balak king of Moab counseled and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you may acknowledge the righteousness of the Lord.’”

⁸When they chose new gods, then war came to their gates. Not a shield or spear was found among forty thousand in Israel.

⁷Now present yourselves, so that I may confront you before the Lord with all the righteous acts He has done for you and your fathers.

²⁴you must take both of them out to the gate of that city and stone them to death—the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he has violated his neighbor’s wife. So you must purge the evil from among you.

⁹We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness.

²“Stand in the gate of the house of the Lord and proclaim this message: Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who enter through these gates to worship the Lord.

⁸This is why it says: “When He ascended on high, He led captives away, and gave gifts to men.”

¹⁸You have ascended on high; You have led captives away. You have received gifts from men, even from the rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell there.

⁸Awake, my glory! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn.

²⁶Then they will come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, who has taken them captive to his will.

¹⁴So it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

²Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn.

²⁶And to the one who overcomes and continues in My work until the end, I will give authority over the nations.

²⁷He will rule them with an iron scepter and shatter them like pottery—just as I have received authority from My Father.

⁷but it is God who judges; He brings down one and exalts another.

¹⁵Behold, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff.

¹⁶You will winnow them, and a wind will carry them away; a gale will scatter them. But you will rejoice in the Lord; you will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

⁹As for those who belong to the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews but are liars instead, I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know that I love you.

¹⁸But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and possess it forever—yes, forever and ever.’

¹⁹Then I wanted to know the true meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others—extremely terrifying—devouring and crushing with iron teeth and bronze claws, then trampling underfoot whatever was left.

³⁹The descendants of Machir son of Manasseh went to Gilead, captured it, and drove out the Amorites who were there.

⁴⁰So Moses gave Gilead to the clan of Machir son of Manasseh, and they settled there.

¹³After enlisting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join forces with him, Eglon attacked and defeated Israel, taking possession of the City of Palms.

¹⁵Then Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, died, and he was buried at Pirathon in Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

²⁷On arriving in Seirah, he blew the ram’s horn throughout the hill country of Ephraim. The Israelites came down with him from the hills, and he became their leader.

¹⁰where he summoned Zebulun and Naphtali. Ten thousand men followed him, and Deborah also went with him.

¹⁴Then Deborah said to Barak, “Arise, for this is the day that the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the Lord gone before you?” So Barak came down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.

¹⁴Then Deborah said to Barak, “Arise, for this is the day that the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the Lord gone before you?” So Barak came down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.

¹⁰where he summoned Zebulun and Naphtali. Ten thousand men followed him, and Deborah also went with him.

¹³The slacker says, “There is a lion outside! I will be slain in the streets!”

⁶She summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “Surely the Lord, the God of Israel, is commanding you: ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, taking with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun.

³²From Issachar, men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do: 200 chiefs with all their kinsmen at their command.

³⁹Their disagreement was so sharp that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus,

²⁴Build cities for your little ones and folds for your flocks, but do what you have promised.”

¹Now the Reubenites and Gadites, who had very large herds and flocks, surveyed the lands of Jazer and Gilead, and they saw that the region was suitable for livestock.

²So the Gadites and Reubenites came to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the leaders of the congregation, and said,

⁴⁰Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the Lord.

⁴¹Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:

⁴Be angry, yet do not sin; on your bed, search your heart and be still. Selah

⁶At night I remembered my song; in my heart I mused, and my spirit pondered:

¹⁵The princes of Issachar were with Deborah, and Issachar was with Barak, rushing into the valley at his heels. In the clans of Reuben there was great indecision.

²⁵The territory of Jazer, all the cities of Gilead, and half the land of the Ammonites as far as Aroer, near Rabbah;

²⁴The fifth lot came out for the clans of the tribe of Asher:

²⁵Their territory included Helkath, Hali, Beten, Achshaph,

³¹half of Gilead; and Ashtaroth and Edrei, the royal cities of Og in Bashan. All this was for the clans of the descendants of Machir son of Manasseh, that is, half of the descendants of Machir.

¹⁰where he summoned Zebulun and Naphtali. Ten thousand men followed him, and Deborah also went with him.

⁶She summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “Surely the Lord, the God of Israel, is commanding you: ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, taking with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun.

¹⁴Then Deborah said to Barak, “Arise, for this is the day that the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the Lord gone before you?” So Barak came down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.

²⁴But I consider my life of no value to me, if only I may finish my course and complete the ministry I have received from the Lord Jesus—the ministry of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.

¹⁶“Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day, and I and my maidens will fast as you do. After that, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish!”

¹⁶By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

³⁰‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoil—a girl or two for each warrior, a plunder of dyed garments for Sisera, the spoil of embroidered garments for the neck of the looter?’

²⁷At that time Manasseh failed to drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam, Megiddo, and their villages; for the Canaanites were determined to dwell in that land.

¹²Baana son of Ahilud in Taanach, in Megiddo, and in all of Beth-shean next to Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah and on past Jokmeam;

²²Then Joshua said, “Open the mouth of the cave and bring those five kings out to me.”

²³So they brought the five kings out of the cave—the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon.

¹⁹Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies assembled to wage war against the One seated on the horse, and against His army.

⁸It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.

⁹It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.

¹¹As they fled before Israel along the descent from Beth-horon to Azekah, the Lord cast down on them large hailstones from the sky, and more of them were killed by the hailstones than by the swords of the Israelites.

¹⁵And in front of him the Lord routed with the sword Sisera, all his charioteers, and all his army. Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled on foot.

¹⁷The clouds poured down water; the skies resounded with thunder; Your arrows flashed back and forth.

¹⁸Your thunder resounded in the whirlwind; the lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and quaked.

¹⁰As the Philistines drew near to fight against Israel, Samuel was offering up the burnt offering. But that day the Lord thundered loudly against the Philistines and threw them into such confusion that they fled before Israel.

⁷And I will draw out Sisera the commander of Jabin’s army, his chariots, and his troops to the River Kishon, and I will deliver him into your hand.’”

⁵Through You we repel our foes; through Your name we trample our enemies.

¹⁰Then my enemy will see and will be covered with shame—she who said to me, “Where is the Lord your God?” My eyes will see her; at that time she will be trampled like mud in the streets.

⁴⁰Then Elijah ordered them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let a single one escape.” So they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered them there.

¹³he summoned all nine hundred of his iron chariots and all the men with him, from Harosheth-hagoyim to the River Kishon.

¹⁰For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain. But Moab will be trampled in his place as straw is trodden into the dung pile.

⁴For the day has come to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every remaining ally. Indeed, the Lord is about to destroy the Philistines, the remnant from the coasts of Caphtor.

¹⁷A horse is a vain hope for salvation; even its great strength cannot save.

¹⁰He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.

¹¹The Lord is pleased with those who fear Him, who hope in His loving devotion.

¹³Rise and thresh, O Daughter of Zion, for I will give you horns of iron and hooves of bronze to break to pieces many peoples. Then you will devote their gain to the Lord, their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.

⁷Some trust in chariots and others in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

²⁸Their arrows are sharpened, and all their bows are strung. The hooves of their horses are like flint; their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.

²²If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be under a curse. Come, O Lord!

¹⁷Then Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you in marriage. Only be valiant for me and fight the Lord’s battles.” But Saul was thinking, “I need not raise my hand against him; let the hand of the Philistines be against him.”

⁹For when the people were counted, none of the residents of Jabesh-gilead were there.

¹⁰So the congregation sent 12,000 of their most valiant men and commanded them: “Go and put to the sword those living in Jabesh-gilead, including women and children.

¹⁰Cursed is the one who is remiss in doing the work of the Lord, and cursed is he who withholds his sword from bloodshed.

⁹For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

⁵Next to him, the Tekoites made repairs, but their nobles did not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors.

⁴²In a loud voice she exclaimed, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

²⁸The angel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

¹⁹and he blessed Abram and said: “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,

¹⁷Meanwhile, Sisera had fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.

³¹Give her the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her at the gates.

¹⁹Sisera said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a container of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him again.

²⁰“Stand at the entrance to the tent,” he said, “and if anyone comes and asks you, ‘Is there a man here?’ say, ‘No.’”

⁴⁹Then David reached into his bag, took out a stone, and slung it, striking the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.

⁵⁰Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.

²¹But as he lay sleeping from exhaustion, Heber’s wife Jael took a tent peg, grabbed a hammer, and went silently to Sisera. She drove the peg through his temple and into the ground, and he died.

²²Then the woman went to all the people with her wise counsel, and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri and threw it to Joab. So he blew the ram’s horn and his men dispersed from the city, each to his own home. And Joab returned to the king in Jerusalem.

⁷“Look at the man who did not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his wealth and strengthened himself by destruction.”

¹³For judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

²For with the same judgment you pronounce, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

¹⁵And in front of him the Lord routed with the sword Sisera, all his charioteers, and all his army. Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled on foot.

⁹My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look, he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice.

²Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers and instructed them: “Go inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover from this injury.”

⁷Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer awaits the precious fruit of the soil—how patient he is for the fall and spring rains.

⁶For at the window of my house I looked through the lattice.

¹⁴Come away, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices.

⁹The enemy declared, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword; my hand will destroy them.’

¹⁴In colorful garments she is led to the king; her virgin companions are brought before you.

⁵the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary?

³Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons, because Joseph had been born to him in his old age; so he made him a robe of many colors.

¹⁸So Amnon’s attendant threw her out and bolted the door behind her. Now Tamar was wearing a robe of many colors, because this is what the king’s virgin daughters wore.

⁶He will bring forth your righteousness like the dawn, your justice like the noonday sun.

⁴is like the light of the morning at sunrise of a cloudless dawn, the glistening after the rain on the sprouting grass of the earth.’

⁴their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens He has pitched a tent for the sun.

⁵Like a bridegroom emerging from his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course,

¹⁴“Because he loves Me, I will deliver him; because he knows My name, I will protect him.

¹²Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.

⁸Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy,