5:11 Hear 1 the sound of those who divide the sheep 2 among the watering places;
there they tell of 3 the Lord’s victorious deeds,
the victorious deeds of his warriors 4 in Israel.
Then the Lord’s people went down to the city gates –
5:12 Wake up, wake up, Deborah!
Wake up, wake up, sing a song!
Get up, Barak!
Capture your prisoners of war, 5 son of Abinoam!
5:13 Then the survivors 6 came down 7 to the mighty ones; 8
the Lord’s people came down to me 9 as 10 warriors.
5:14 They came from Ephraim, who uprooted Amalek, 11
they follow 12 after you, Benjamin, with your soldiers.
From Makir leaders came down,
from Zebulun came 13 the ones who march carrying 14 an officer’s staff.
5:15 Issachar’s leaders were with Deborah,
the men of Issachar 15 supported 16 Barak;
into the valley they were sent under Barak’s command. 17
Among the clans of Reuben there was intense 18 heart searching. 19
5:16 Why do you remain among the sheepfolds, 20
listening to the shepherds playing their pipes 21 for their flocks? 22
As for the clans of Reuben – there was intense searching of heart.
5:17 Gilead stayed put 23 beyond the Jordan River.
As for Dan – why did he seek temporary employment in the shipyards? 24
Asher remained 25 on the seacoast,
he stayed 26 by his harbors. 27
5:18 The men of Zebulun were not concerned about their lives; 28
Naphtali charged on to the battlefields. 29
5:19 Kings came, they fought;
the kings of Canaan fought,
at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo, 30
but 31 they took no silver as plunder.
5:20 From the sky 32 the stars 33 fought,
from their paths in the heavens 34 they fought against Sisera.
5:21 The Kishon River carried them off;
the river confronted them 35 – the Kishon River.
Step on the necks of the strong! 36
5:22 The horses’ 37 hooves pounded the ground; 38
the stallions galloped madly. 39
5:23 ‘Call judgment down on 40 Meroz,’ says the Lord’s angelic 41 messenger;
‘Be sure 42 to call judgment down on 43 those who live there,
because they did not come to help in the Lord’s battle, 44
to help in the Lord’s battle against the warriors.’ 45
1 tn The word “Hear” is supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.
2 tn The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain. Some translate “those who distribute the water” (HALOT 344 s.v. חצץ pi). For other options see B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 246-47.
3 tn Or perhaps “repeat.”
4 tn See the note on the term “warriors” in v. 7.
5 tn Heb “take captive your captives.” (The Hebrew text uses a cognate accusative here.)
6 tn This probably refers to those who responded to the call for war. They were “survivors” of the Canaanite oppression (see B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 250).
7 tn The translation assumes a repointing of the verb as a perfect or imperfect/preterite form of יָרַד (yarad, “to go down”). The form as pointed in the MT appears to be from רָדָה (radah, “to rule”). See GKC 188 §69.g. The same form, translated “came down,” occurs in the next line as well.
8 sn The expression mighty ones probably refers to the leaders of the army.
9 sn The speaker may be Deborah here.
10 tn The translation assumes the preposition ב (bet) prefixed to “warriors” has the force of “in the capacity of.” For this use of the preposition, see GKC 379 §119.i.
11 tn Heb “From Ephraim their root in Amalek” (the words “they came” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons). Because of the difficulty of the MT, many prefer to follow one of the ancient versions or emend the text. For various proposals see B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 252-53. The present translation repoints שָׁרְשָׁם (shorsham, traditionally translated “their root”) as a Piel verb form with enclitic mem (ם). The preposition ב (bet) on עֲמָלֵק (’amaleq) introduces the object (see Job 31:12 for an example of the construction). Ephraim’s territory encompassed the hill country of the Amalekites (Judg 12:15).
12 tn The words “They follow” are supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.
13 tn The word “came” is supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.
14 tn Or possibly “who carry.”
15 tn Heb “Issachar.” The words “the men of” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
16 tn Or “was true to.”
17 tn Heb “at his feet.”
18 tn Heb “great was.”
19 tc The great majority of Hebrew
20 tn The meaning of the Hebrew word מִשְׁפְּתַיִם (mishpÿtayim) is uncertain. Some understand the word to mean “campfires.”
21 tn Or “whistling.”
22 tn Heb “listening to the pipe playing for the flocks.”
23 tn Heb “lived” or “settled down.”
24 tn Heb “Dan, why did he live as a resident alien, ships.” The verb גּוּר (gur) usually refers to taking up residence outside one’s native land. Perhaps the Danites, rather than rallying to Barak, were content to move to the Mediterranean coast and work in the shipyards. For further discussion, see B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 262.
25 tn Heb “lived.”
26 tn Heb “lived” or “settled down.”
27 tn The meaning of the Hebrew word מִפְרָץ (mifrats) is uncertain, but the parallelism (note “seacoast”) suggests “harbors.”
28 tn Heb “Zebulun was a people which despised its life even unto death.”
29 tn Heb “Naphtali was on the heights of the field.”
30 map For location see Map1-D4; Map2-C1; Map4-C2; Map5-F2; Map7-B1.
31 tn The contrastive conjunction “but” is interpretive.
32 tn Or “from heaven.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
33 tn The MT takes “the stars” with what follows rather than with the first colon of v. 20. But for metrical reasons it seems better to move the atnach and read the colon as indicated in the translation.
34 tn The words “in the heavens” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
35 tn Possibly “the ancient river,” but it seems preferable in light of the parallel line (which has a verb) to emend the word (attested only here) to a verb (קָדַם, qadam) with pronominal object suffix.
36 tn This line is traditionally taken as the poet-warrior’s self-exhortation, “March on, my soul, in strength!” The present translation (a) takes the verb (a second feminine singular form) as addressed to Deborah (cf. v. 12), (b) understands נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) in its well-attested sense of “throat; neck” (cf. Jonah 2:6), (c) takes the final yod (י) on נַפְשִׁי (nafshiy) as an archaic construct indicator (rather than a suffix), and (d) interprets עֹז (’oz, “strength”) as an attributive genitive (literally, “necks of strength,” i.e., “strong necks”). For fuller discussion and various proposals, see B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 270-71.
37 tc The MT as it stands has a singular noun, but if one moves the prefixed mem (מ) from the beginning of the next word to the end of סוּס (sus), the expected plural form is achieved. Another possibility is to understand an error of scribal haplography here, in which case the letter mem should appear in both places.
38 tn The words “the ground” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarification.
39 tn Heb “galloped, galloped.” The repetition is for emphasis and is more appropriately indicated in English with an adverb.
40 tn Heb “Curse Meroz.”
41 tn The adjective “angelic” is interpretive.
42 tn Heb “Curse, cursing.” The Hebrew construction is emphatic.
43 tn Heb “[to] curse.”
44 tn Heb “to the help of the
45 tn Or “along with the other warriors.”