Discovery BoxJudges 5:16-23 
Context5:16 Why do you remain among the sheepfolds, 1
listening to the shepherds playing their pipes 2 for their flocks? 3
As for the clans of Reuben – there was intense searching of heart.
5:17 Gilead stayed put 4 beyond the Jordan River.
As for Dan – why did he seek temporary employment in the shipyards? 5
Asher remained 6 on the seacoast,
5:18 The men of Zebulun were not concerned about their lives; 9
Naphtali charged on to the battlefields. 10
5:19 Kings came, they fought;
the kings of Canaan fought,
at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo, 11
but 12 they took no silver as plunder.
5:20 From the sky 13 the stars 14 fought,
from their paths in the heavens 15 they fought against Sisera.
5:21 The Kishon River carried them off;
the river confronted them 16 – the Kishon River.
Step on the necks of the strong! 17
5:22 The horses’ 18 hooves pounded the ground; 19
the stallions galloped madly. 20
5:23 ‘Call judgment down on 21 Meroz,’ says the Lord’s angelic 22 messenger;
‘Be sure 23 to call judgment down on 24 those who live there,
because they did not come to help in the Lord’s battle, 25
to help in the Lord’s battle against the warriors.’ 26
1 tn The meaning of the Hebrew word מִשְׁפְּתַיִם (mishpÿtayim) is uncertain. Some understand the word to mean “campfires.”
2 tn Or “whistling.”
3 tn Heb “listening to the pipe playing for the flocks.”
4 tn Heb “lived” or “settled down.”
sn Apparently the people of Gilead remained on the other side of the river and did not participate in the battle.
5 tn Heb “Dan, why did he live as a resident alien, ships.” The verb גּוּר (gur) usually refers to taking up residence outside one’s native land. Perhaps the Danites, rather than rallying to Barak, were content to move to the Mediterranean coast and work in the shipyards. For further discussion, see B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 262.
6 tn Heb “lived.”
7 tn Heb “lived” or “settled down.”
8 tn The meaning of the Hebrew word מִפְרָץ (mifrats) is uncertain, but the parallelism (note “seacoast”) suggests “harbors.”
9 tn Heb “Zebulun was a people which despised its life even unto death.”
10 tn Heb “Naphtali was on the heights of the field.”
11 map For location see Map1 D4; Map2 C1; Map4 C2; Map5 F2; Map7 B1.
12 tn The contrastive conjunction “but” is interpretive.
13 tn Or “from heaven.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
14 tn The MT takes “the stars” with what follows rather than with the first colon of v. 20. But for metrical reasons it seems better to move the atnach and read the colon as indicated in the translation.
15 tn The words “in the heavens” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
16 tn Possibly “the ancient river,” but it seems preferable in light of the parallel line (which has a verb) to emend the word (attested only here) to a verb (קָדַם, qadam) with pronominal object suffix.
17 tn This line is traditionally taken as the poet-warrior’s self-exhortation, “March on, my soul, in strength!” The present translation (a) takes the verb (a second feminine singular form) as addressed to Deborah (cf. v. 12), (b) understands נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) in its well-attested sense of “throat; neck” (cf. Jonah 2:6), (c) takes the final yod (י) on נַפְשִׁי (nafshiy) as an archaic construct indicator (rather than a suffix), and (d) interprets עֹז (’oz, “strength”) as an attributive genitive (literally, “necks of strength,” i.e., “strong necks”). For fuller discussion and various proposals, see B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 270-71.
18 tc The MT as it stands has a singular noun, but if one moves the prefixed mem (מ) from the beginning of the next word to the end of סוּס (sus), the expected plural form is achieved. Another possibility is to understand an error of scribal haplography here, in which case the letter mem should appear in both places.
19 tn The words “the ground” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarification.
20 tn Heb “galloped, galloped.” The repetition is for emphasis and is more appropriately indicated in English with an adverb.
21 tn Heb “Curse Meroz.”
22 tn The adjective “angelic” is interpretive.
23 tn Heb “Curse, cursing.” The Hebrew construction is emphatic.
24 tn Heb “[to] curse.”
25 tn Heb “to the help of the
26 tn Or “along with the other warriors.”
