Text -- Judges 4:1-4 (NET)

Deborah Summons Barak

4:1 The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight after Ehud’s death. 4:2 The Lord turned them over to King Jabin of Canaan, who ruled in Hazor. The general of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth Haggoyim. 4:3 The Israelites cried out for help to the Lord, because Sisera had nine hundred chariots with iron-rimmed wheels, and he cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years. 4:4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Jdg 4:1

¹ tn Heb “did evil in the eyes of the Lord.”

NET Notes: Jdg 4:2

¹ tn Heb “the Lord sold them into the hands of.”

² tn Or “King Jabin of Hazor, a Canaanite ruler.”

map For location see Map1 D2; Map2 D3; Map3 A2; Map4 C1.

³ tn Or “Harosheth of the Pagan Nations”; cf. KJV “Harosheth of the Gentiles.”

NET Notes: Jdg 4:3

¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Sisera) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Regarding the translation “chariots with iron-rimmed wheels,” see Y. Yadin, The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands, 255, and the article by R. Drews, “The ‘Chariots of Iron’ of Joshua and Judges,” JSOT 45 (1989): 15-23.

³ tn Heb “with strength.”

NET Notes: Jdg 4:4

¹ tn Heb “ a woman, a prophetess.” In Hebrew idiom the generic “woman” sometimes precedes the more specific designation. See GKC 437-38 §135.b.

² tn Heb “she was.” The pronoun refers back to the nominative absolute “Deborah.” Hebrew style sometimes employs such resumptive pronouns when lengthy qualifiers separate the subject from the verb.

³ tn Or “judging.”