1 2 5 6 7 8 10 11 12 13 THEN sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying: That leaders in Israel led on, That the people freely gave themselves, Hear, ye kings; give ear, ye princes; I, to Jehovah will I sing; Will sing praise to Jehovah, God of Israel. Jehovah, when thou wentest forth out of Seir, The mountains quaked before Jehovah— In the days of Shamgar, the son of Anath, That I arose, a mother in Israel. They chose new gods; Then was war in the gates; Was there seen a shield or a spear, My heart is toward the commanders of Israel; Ye that ride on white asses, Ye that sit on carpetings, And ye that walk by the way, Think thereon; Of the shout of those parting the spoil with water-drawers- The righteous acts of his rule in Israel. Then came they down to the gates, the people of Jehovah. Awake, awake, Deborah; Awake, awake, utter a song; Arise, Barak, and lead thy captured captive, Thou son of Abinoam! Then came down a remnant of the nobles, a people; Jehovah came down to me among the valiant; 14 Out of Ephraim, their seat in Amalek, After thee, Benjamin, among thy peoples; 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Out of Machir came down commanders, And out of Zebulun those holding the musterer's staff. And my chiefs in Issachar were with Deborah; And Issachar, the strength of Barak, Rushed at his feet into the valley. By the streams of Reuben Great were the resolves of heart. Why abodest thou among the sheep-folds, Great were the searchings of heart. Gilead abode beyond the Jordan; And abode in his havens. Zebulun, a people that scorned its life, unto death, There came kings-they fought; Then fought the kings of Canaan, At Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo; From heaven they fought; The stars in their courses fought against Sisera. That ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, thou shalt tread down the strong! In the rush, the rush of their mighty ones. Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of Jehovah; Blessed above women be Jael, The wife of Heber the Kenite; Blessed shall she be above women in the tent. She brought curdled milk in a lordly dish. She stretched out her hand to the nail, And her right hand to the workmen's hammer; And she smote Sisera, she smote through his head, And she crushed and pierced through his temples. At her feet he bowed, he fell; Where he bowed, there he fell down slain. The mother of Sisera looked out at the window, Why is his chariot so long in coming? 29 80 31 1 Why tarry the wheels of his chariots? So let all thine enemies perish, O Jehovah ! When he goes forth in his might. 1 And the land had rest forty years. AND the children of Israel did evil in the sight of Jehovah ; and Jehovah gave them into the hand of Midian seven years. 2 And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens which are in the mountains, and the caves, and the 3 strongholds. And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up and the Amalekites, and the sons of the east they came up, against them. And they encamped against them, and destroyed the produce of the earth, till thou comest to Gaza; and they left no sustenance in Israel, neither 5 sheep, nor ox, nor ass. For they came up with their cattle and their tents; and they came as locusts for multitude. They and their camels were without number; and they came 6 into the land to destroy it. And Israel was greatly enfeebled 1 This sublime ode, commemorating the greatest of the many victories won in Jehovah's name, had a lasting influence on the spirit of the people, and of the national literature. See, for example, the 68th Psalm in the writer's revised version, and his remarks there, and in its republication in Dr. Schaff's edition of Lange's volume on the Psalms.-V. 4. Seir-Edom. Compare Deut. 32: 2. -V. 10 includes all ranks. That ride on white asses, men of princely rank, nobles; that sit on carpetings, the wealthy, they that live luxuriously; that walk by the way, that go on foot, the common people.-V. 11. Even the water-drawers, as they divide the spoils at the fountains, will there recount the deeds of Jehovah. Then came they down to the gates; from the mountain retreats (ch. 6:2) to their towns, now freed from the vanquished enemy.-VV. 15, 16. Great resolves; that came to nothing. Searchings of heart; showing that they were not wholly indifferent to the call of duty, but they could not forego the ease and security of their pastoral life.-V. 20. They fought from heaven, etc. A poetic and figurative conception of deliverance wrought from on high.- -V. 23. Meroz. A place mentioned only here; nothing more is known of it.-V. 25. The nail. The iron pin, sharpened at the point, to which the tent-cord was fastened.-V. 30. Have they not sped? Or, as some translate, "Shall they not speed?" But the same tense is properly rendered as past, in the two next preceding clauses; and I prefer not to change the familiar phraseology of the common version. 7 11 because of the Midianites. And the children of Israel cried unto Jehovah. And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto 8 Jehovah on account of the Midianites, that Jehovah sent a prophet to the children of Israel, and said to them: Thus says Jehovah God of Israel. I brought you up from Egypt, 9 and I brought you forth out of the house of bondage. And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drove them out from 10 before you, and gave you their land. gave you their land. And I said to you: I, Jehovah, am your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell. And ye have not obeyed my voice. And there came an angel of Jehovah, and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite; and Gideon his son was threshing wheat by the wine12 press, to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of Jehovah appeared to him, and said to him: Jehovah is with 13 thee, thou mighty man of valor. And Gideon said to him: Beseech thee my Lord, if Jehovah be with us, why has all this befallen us? And where are all his wonders of which our fathers told us, saying: Did not Jehovah bring us up from Egypt? And now Jehovah has forsaken us, and given 14 us into the grasp of the Midianites. And Jehovah turned to him, and said: Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the grasp of the Midianites. Have not I sent 15 thee? And he said to him: Beseech thee my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is the feeblest 16 in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. And Jehovah said to him: Surely I will be with thee, and thou 17 shalt smite the Midianites as one man. And he said to him: If now I have found grace in thy sight, then show me a sign 18 that thou talkest with me. Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come to thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou comest 19 again. And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid of the goats, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour. The flesh he put in the basket, and he put the broth in the pot, and 20 brought it out to him under the oak, and presented it. And the angel of God said to him: Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so. 21 And the angel of Jehovah put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. And the angel 22 of Jehovah departed out of his sight. And Gideon saw that he was an angel of Jehovah. And Gideon said: Alas, O Lord Jehovah; for therefore have I seen an angel of Jeho23 vah face to face. And Jehovah said to him: Peace be to 24 thee; fear not, thou shalt not die. And Gideon built an altar there unto Jehovah; and he called it Jehovah-shalom. Unto this day it is yet at Ophrah of the Abi-ezrites. 25 And it came to pass on the same night, that Jehovah said to him: Take the young bullock, which is thy father's, and the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that is thy father's, and cut down the Ashera 26 that is by it. And build an altar to Jehovah thy God upon the top of this rock, with the wood laid in order, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood 27 of the Ashera which thou shalt cut down. And Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as Jehovah had said to him. And as from fear of his father's house, and of the men of the city, he could not do it by day, he did it by night. 28 And the men of the city rose early in the morning, and behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the Ashera was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered 29 on the altar that was built. And they said one to another: Who has done this thing? And they searched and made inquiry; and they said: Gideon the son of Joash has done this 30 thing. And the men of the city said to Joash: Bring out V. 22. For therefore; namely, for the reason implied in the despairing exclamation "Alas,” and plainly indicated in the next verse. See the writer's note on Gen. 16: 13, 14. V. 24. Shalom, peace. Jehovah-shalom, Jehovah gives peace; alluding to the words, "peace be to thee," in v. 23. V. 25. Ashera. See the note on ch. 3: 7. |