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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Judges 4 CEV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/judges/4.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/judges/4-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">CEV</a> > Judges 4</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../judges/3.htm" title="Judges 3">◄</a> Judges 4 <a href="../judges/5.htm" title="Judges 5">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Contemporary English Version</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s1">Deborah and Barak</h3><p class="par"><span class="v7_4_1"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.4.1" class="v7_4_1">1</span>After the death of Ehud, the Israelites again started disobeying the <span class="nd">Lord</span>. </span><span class="v7_4_2"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.4.2" class="v7_4_2">2</span>So the <span class="nd">Lord</span> let the Canaanite King Jabin of Hazor conquer Israel. Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, lived in Harosheth-Ha-Goiim. </span><span class="v7_4_3"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.4.3" class="v7_4_3">3</span>Jabin's army had 900 iron chariots, and for 20 years he made life miserable for the Israelites, until finally they begged the <span class="nd">Lord</span> for help.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_4_4"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.4.4" class="v7_4_4">4</span>Deborah the wife of Lappidoth was a prophet and a leader<a href="#fn" id="link_Judg.4.4!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> of Israel during those days. </span><span class="v7_4_5"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.4.5" class="v7_4_5">5</span>She would sit under Deborah's Palm Tree between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, where Israelites would come and ask her to settle their legal cases.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_4_6"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.4.6" class="v7_4_6">6</span>One day, Barak the son of Abinoam was in Kedesh in Naphtali, and Deborah sent word for him to come and talk with her. When he arrived, she said:</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v7_4_6">I have a message for you from the <span class="nd">Lord</span> God of Israel! You are to get together an army of 10,000 men from the Naphtali and Zebulun tribes and lead them to Mount Tabor. </span><span class="v7_4_7"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.4.7" class="v7_4_7">7</span>The <span class="nd">Lord</span> will trick Sisera into coming out to fight you at the Kishon River. Sisera will be leading King Jabin's army as usual, and they will have their chariots, but the <span class="nd">Lord</span> has promised to help you defeat them.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_4_8"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.4.8" class="v7_4_8">8</span>“I'm not going unless you go!” Barak told her.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_4_9"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.4.9" class="v7_4_9">9</span>“All right, I'll go!” she replied. “But I'm warning you that the <span class="nd">Lord</span> is going to let a woman defeat Sisera, and no one will honor you for winning the battle.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_4_9">Deborah and Barak left for Kedesh, </span><span class="v7_4_10"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.4.10" class="v7_4_10">10</span>where Barak called together the troops from Zebulun and Naphtali. Ten thousand soldiers gathered there, and Barak led them out from Kedesh. Deborah went too.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_4_11"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.4.11" class="v7_4_11">11</span>At this time, Heber of the Kenite clan was living near the village of Oak in Zaanannim,<a href="#fn" id="link_Judg.4.11!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> not far from Kedesh. The Kenites were descendants of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses, but Heber had moved and had set up his tents away from the rest of the clan.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_4_12"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.4.12" class="v7_4_12">12</span>When Sisera learned that Barak had led an army to Mount Tabor, </span><span class="v7_4_13"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.4.13" class="v7_4_13">13</span>he called his troops together and got all 900 iron chariots ready. Then he led his army away from Harosheth-Ha-Goiim to the Kishon River.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_4_14"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.4.14" class="v7_4_14">14</span>Deborah shouted, “Barak, it's time to attack Sisera! Because today the <span class="nd">Lord</span> is going to help you defeat him. In fact, the <span class="nd">Lord</span> has already gone on ahead to fight for you.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_4_14">Barak led his 10,000 troops down from Mount Tabor. </span><span class="v7_4_15"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.4.15" class="v7_4_15">15</span>And during the battle, the <span class="nd">Lord</span> confused Sisera, his chariot drivers, and his whole army. Everyone was so afraid of Barak and his army, that even Sisera jumped down from his chariot and tried to escape. </span><span class="v7_4_16"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.4.16" class="v7_4_16">16</span>Barak's forces went after Sisera's chariots and army as far as Harosheth-Ha-Goiim.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_4_16">Sisera's entire army was wiped out. </span><span class="v7_4_17"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.4.17" class="v7_4_17">17</span>Only Sisera escaped. He ran to Heber's camp, because Heber and his family had a peace treaty with the king of Hazor. Sisera went to the tent that belonged to Jael, Heber's wife. </span><span class="v7_4_18"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.4.18" class="v7_4_18">18</span>She came out to greet him and said, “Come in, sir! Please come on in. Don't be afraid.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_4_18">After they had gone inside, Sisera lay down, and Jael covered him with a blanket. </span><span class="v7_4_19"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.4.19" class="v7_4_19">19</span>“Could I have a little water?” he asked. “I'm thirsty.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_4_19">Jael opened a leather bottle and poured him some milk, then she covered him back up.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_4_20"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.4.20" class="v7_4_20">20</span>“Stand at the entrance to the tent,” Sisera told her. “If someone comes by and asks if anyone is inside, tell them ‘No.’ ”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_4_21"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.4.21" class="v7_4_21">21</span>Sisera was exhausted and soon fell fast asleep. Jael took a hammer and drove a tent-peg through his head into the ground, and he died.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_4_22"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.4.22" class="v7_4_22">22</span>Meanwhile, Barak had been following Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. “The man you're looking for is inside,” she said. “Come in and I'll show him to you.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_4_22">They went inside, and there was Sisera—dead and stretched out with a tent-peg through his skull.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_4_23"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.4.23" class="v7_4_23">23</span>That same day God defeated the Canaanite King Jabin while the Israelites looked on, and his army was no longer powerful enough to attack the Israelites. </span><span class="v7_4_24"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.4.24" class="v7_4_24">24</span>Jabin grew weaker while the Israelites kept growing stronger, until at last the Israelites destroyed him.</span></p> <a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">4.4 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">leader: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">See 2.16 and the note there.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">4.11 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">the village … Zaanannim: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Or “the oak tree in the town of Zaanannim.”</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 2006 American Bible Society. 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