Discovery BoxJudges 4:17-22 
Context4:17 Now Sisera ran away on foot to the tent of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite, for King Jabin of Hazor 1 and the family of Heber the Kenite had made a peace treaty. 2 4:18 Jael came out to welcome Sisera. She said to him, “Stop and rest, 3 my lord. Stop and rest with me. Don’t be afraid.” So Sisera 4 stopped to rest in her tent, and she put a blanket over him. 4:19 He said to her, “Give me a little water to drink, because I’m thirsty.” She opened a goatskin container of milk and gave him some milk to drink. Then she covered him up again. 4:20 He said to her, “Stand watch at the entrance to the tent. If anyone comes along and asks you, ‘Is there a man here?’ say ‘No.’” 4:21 Then Jael wife of Heber took a tent peg in one hand and a hammer in the other. 5 She crept up on him, drove the tent peg through his temple into the ground 6 while he was asleep from exhaustion, 7 and he died. 4:22 Now Barak was chasing Sisera. Jael went out to welcome him. She said to him, “Come here and I will show you the man you are searching for.” He went with her into the tent, 8 and there he saw Sisera sprawled out dead 9 with the tent peg in his temple.
1 map For location see Map1 D2; Map2 D3; Map3 A2; Map4 C1.
2 tn Heb “for there was peace between.”
3 tn Heb “Turn aside” (also a second time later in this verse).
4 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Sisera) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Heb “took a tent peg and put a hammer in her hand.”
6 tn Heb “and it went into the ground.”
7 tn Heb “and exhausted.” Another option is to understand this as a reference to the result of the fatal blow. In this case, the phrase could be translated, “and he breathed his last.”
8 tn Heb “he went to her.”
9 tn Heb “fallen, dead.”
