Text -- Judges 4:20-24 (NET)

4:20 He said to her, “Stand watch at the entrance to the tent. If anyone comes along and asks you, ‘Is there a man here?’ say ‘No.’” 4:21 Then Jael wife of Heber took a tent peg in one hand and a hammer in the other. She crept up on him, drove the tent peg through his temple into the ground while he was asleep from exhaustion, and he died. 4:22 Now Barak was chasing Sisera. Jael went out to welcome him. She said to him, “Come here and I will show you the man you are searching for.” He went with her into the tent, and there he saw Sisera sprawled out dead with the tent peg in his temple. 4:23 That day God humiliated King Jabin of Canaan before the Israelites. 4:24 Israel’s power continued to overwhelm King Jabin of Canaan until they did away with him.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Jdg 4:21

¹ tn Heb “took a tent peg and put a hammer in her hand.”

² tn Heb “and it went into the ground.”

³ tn Heb “and exhausted.” Another option is to understand this as a reference to the result of the fatal blow. In this case, the phrase could be translated, “and he breathed his last.”

NET Notes: Jdg 4:22

¹ tn Heb “he went to her.”

² tn Heb “fallen, dead.”

NET Notes: Jdg 4:24

¹ tn Heb “The hand of the Israelites became more and more severe against.”

² tn Heb “cut off.”

³ tn Heb “Jabin king of Canaan.” The proper name and title have been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.