as it tells about the defeat of a despised enemy. This poem is the earliest extant writing found in the Hebrew Bible!57
Judges 5
Then Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying:
“When locks are long in Israel,
when the people offer themselves willingly -
bless יהוה!
“Hear, O kings; give ear, O princes;
to יהוה I will sing,
I will make melody to יהוה,
the God of Israel.
“יהוה, when you went out from Seir,
when you marched from the region of Edom,
the earth trembled,
and the heavens opened,
the clouds indeed poured water.
The mountains quaked before יהוה,
the One of Sinai,
before יהוה, the God of Israel.
“In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,
in the days of Jael, caravans ceased
and travelers kept to the byways.
The peasantry prospered in Israel,
they grew fat on plunder,
because you arose, Deborah,
arose as a mother in Israel.
When new gods were chosen,
when war was in the gates.
Was shield or spear to be seen
among forty thousand in Israel?
My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel
who offered themselves willingly among the people.
Bless יהוה.
“Tell of it, you caravaneers who ride on white donkeys,
you who sit on lush carpets
and you who walk by the way.
To the sound of musicians at the watering places,
there they repeat the triumphs of יהוה,
the triumphs of the people of יהוה in Israel.
Then down to the gates marched the people of יהוה.
“Awake, awake, Deborah!
Awake, awake, utter a song!
Arise, Barak, lead away your captives,
O son of Abinoam.”
Then down marched the remnant of the noble;
the people of יהוה marched down
for him against the mighty.
From Ephraim they set out into the valley,
following you, Benjamin, with your kin;
from Machir marched down the commanders,
and from Zebulun those who bear the marshal’s staff;
the chiefs of Issachar came with Deborah,
and Issachar faithful to Barak;
into the valley they rushed out at his heels.
Among the clans of Reuben
there were great searchings of the heart.
Why did you tarry among the sheepfolds?
to hear the piping for the flocks?
Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan;
and Dan, why did he abide with the ships?
Asher sat still at the coast of the sea,
settling down by his landings.
Zebulun is a people that scorned death;
Naphtali too, on the heights of the field.
“The kings came, they fought;
then fought the kings of Canaan,
at Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo;
they got no spoils of silver.”
The stars fought from heaven,
from their courses they fought against Sisera.
The torrent Kishon swept them away,
the onrushing torrent, the torrent Kishon.
March on, my soul, with might!
Then loud beat the horses’ hoofs
with the galloping, galloping of his steeds.
Curse Meroz, says the angel of יהוה,
curse bitterly its inhabitants,
because they did not come to the help of יהוה,
to the help of יהוה against the mighty.
Most blessed of women is Jael,
the wife of Heber the Kenite,
of tent-dwelling women most blessed.
He asked for water and she gave him milk,
she brought him curds in a lordly bowl.
She put her hand to the tent peg
and her right hand to the workmen’s mallet;
she struck Sisera a blow,
she crushed his head,
she shattered and pierced his temple.
He sank, he fell;
where he sank, there he fell dead.
Out of the window she peered,
the mother of Sisera gazed through the lattice:
“Why is
