Deborah and Barak

1 ^xAnd the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud died. 2 And the Lord ^ysold them into the hand of ^zJabin king of Canaan, who reigned in ^zHazor. The commander of his army was ^aSisera, who lived in ^bHarosheth-hagoyim. 3 Then the people of Israel ^ccried out to the Lord for help, for he had ^d900 chariots of iron and he oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for twenty years.

4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. 5 She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in ^ethe hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel came up to her for judgment. 6 She sent and summoned ^fBarak the son of Abinoam from ^gKedesh-naphtali and said to him, “Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you, ‘Go, gather your men at Mount ^hTabor, taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulun. 7 And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by ⁱthe river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, ^jand I will give him into your hand’?” 8 Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” 9 And she said, “I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will ^ksell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 And Barak called out ^lZebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh. And 10,000 men went up at his heels, and Deborah went up with him.

11 Now Heber ^mthe Kenite had separated from the Kenites, the descendants of ⁿHobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the oak in ^oZaanannim, which is near Kedesh.

12 When Sisera was told that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, 13 Sisera called out all his chariots, ^p900 chariots of iron, and all the men who were with him, from Harosheth-hagoyim to the river Kishon. 14 And Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which ^qthe Lord has given Sisera into your hand. ^rDoes not the Lord go out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him. 15 ^sAnd the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword. And Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot. 16 And Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth-hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left.

17 But Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. 18 And Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord; turn aside to me; do not be afraid.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. 19 And he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened ^ta skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. 20 And he said to her, “Stand at the opening of the tent, and if any man comes and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say, ‘No.’” 21 But Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand. Then she went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple until it went down into the ground while he was lying fast asleep from weariness. So he died. 22 And behold, as Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael went out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” So he went in to her tent, and there lay Sisera dead, with the tent peg in his temple.

23 ^uSo on that day God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the people of Israel. 24 And the hand of the people of Israel pressed harder and harder against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

The Song of Deborah and Barak

1 ^vThen sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day:

^jAnd the land had rest for forty years.

Micah and the Levite

1 There was a man of ^tthe hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. 2 And he said to his mother, “The 1,100 pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, and also spoke it in my ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it.” And his mother said, ^u“Blessed be my son by the Lord.” 3 And he restored the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother. And his mother said, “I dedicate the silver to the Lord from my hand for my son, to make ^va carved image and ^wa metal image. Now therefore I will restore it to you.” 4 So when he restored the money to his mother, his mother ^xtook 200 pieces of silver and gave it to the silversmith, who made it into a carved image and a metal image. And it was in the house of Micah. 5 And the man Micah had a shrine, and he made ^yan ephod and ^zhousehold gods, and ^aordained¹ one of his sons, who became his priest. 6 ^bIn those days there was no king in Israel. ^cEveryone did what was right in his own eyes.

7 Now there was a young man of ^dBethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there. 8 And the man departed from the town of Bethlehem in Judah to sojourn where he could find a place. And as he journeyed, he came to ^ethe hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah. 9 And Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I am a Levite of Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to sojourn where I may find a place.” 10 And Micah said to him, “Stay with me, and be to me ^fa father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year and a suit of clothes and your living.” And the Levite went in. 11 And the Levite ^gwas content to dwell with the man, and the young man became to him like one of his sons. 12 And Micah ^hordained the Levite, and the young man ⁱbecame his priest, and was in the house of Micah. 13 Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will prosper me, because I have a Levite as priest.”

Danites Take the Levite and the Idol

1 ^jIn those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days ^kthe tribe of the people of Dan was seeking for itself an inheritance to dwell in, for until then no inheritance among the tribes of Israel had fallen to them. 2 So the people of Dan sent five able men from the whole number of their tribe, ^lfrom Zorah and from Eshtaol, ^mto spy out the land and to explore it. And they said to them, “Go and explore the land.” And they came ⁿto the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there. 3 When they were by the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young Levite. And they turned aside and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is your business here?” 4 And he said to them, “This is how Micah dealt with me: ^ohe has hired me, and I have become his priest.” 5 And they said to him, ^p“Inquire of God, please, that we may know whether the journey on which we are setting out will succeed.” 6 And the priest said to them, ^q“Go in peace. The journey on which you go is under the eye of the Lord.”

7 Then the five men departed and came to ^rLaish and saw the people who were there, how they lived in security, after the manner of the Sidonians, ^squiet and unsuspecting, lacking² nothing that is in the earth and possessing wealth, and how ^tthey were far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. 8 And when they came to their brothers at ^uZorah and Eshtaol, their brothers said to them, “What do you report?” 9 They said, ^v“Arise, and let us go up against them, for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good. ^wAnd will you do nothing? ^xDo not be slow to go, to enter in and possess the land. 10 As soon as you go, you will come to an ^yunsuspecting people. The land is spacious, for God has given it into your hands, ^za place where there is no lack of anything that is in the earth.”

11 So 600 men of the tribe of Dan, ^aarmed with weapons of war, set out from Zorah and Eshtaol, 12 and went up and encamped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. On this account that place is called ^bMahaneh-dan³ to this day; behold, it is west of ^cKiriath-jearim. 13 And they passed on from there to ^dthe hill country of Ephraim, and came to the house of Micah.

14 Then the five men who had gone to scout out the country of Laish said to their brothers, “Do you know that ^ein these houses there are an ephod, household gods, a carved image, and a metal image? Now therefore consider what you will do.” 15 And they turned aside there and came to the house of the young Levite, at the home of Micah, and ^fasked him about his welfare. 16 Now the 600 men of the Danites, ^garmed with their weapons of war, stood by the entrance of the gate. 17 And ^hthe five men who had gone to scout out the land went up and entered and took ⁱthe carved image, the ephod, the household gods, and the metal image, while the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the 600 men armed with weapons of war. 18 And when these went into Micah’s house and took ⁱthe carved image, the ephod, the household gods, and the metal image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?” 19 And they said to him, “Keep quiet; ^jput your hand on your mouth and come with us and be to us ^ka father and a priest. Is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and clan in Israel?” 20 And the priest’s heart was glad. He took the ephod and the household gods and the carved image and went along with the people.

21 So they turned and departed, putting the little ones and the livestock and ^lthe goods in front of them. 22 When they had gone a distance from the home of Micah, the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house were called out, and they overtook the people of Dan. 23 And they shouted to the people of Dan, who turned around and said to Micah, “What is the matter with you, that you come with such a company?” 24 And he said, ^m“You take my gods that I made and the priest, and go away, and what have I left? How then do you ask me, ‘What is the matter with you?’” 25 And the people of Dan said to him, “Do not let your voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows fall upon you, and you lose your life with the lives of your household.” 26 Then the people of Dan went their way. And when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his home.

27 But the people of Dan took what Micah had made, and the priest who belonged to him, and they came to Laish, to a people ⁿquiet and unsuspecting, and ^ostruck them with the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire. 28 And there was no deliverer because it was ^pfar from Sidon, and they had no dealings with anyone. It was in the valley that belongs to ^qBeth-rehob. Then they rebuilt the city and lived in it. 29 And they named the city ^rDan, after the name of Dan their ancestor, who was born to Israel; but ^sthe name of the city was Laish at the first. 30 And the people of Dan set up the carved image for themselves, and Jonathan the son of Gershom, ^tson of Moses,^{4 u}and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day ^vof the captivity of the land. 31 So they set up Micah’s carved image that he made, ^was long as the house of God was at Shiloh.