Hakim-hakim 5:19-23

5:19 Kings came, they fought;

the kings of Canaan fought,

at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo, ¹ 

but ²  they took no silver as plunder.

5:20 From the sky ³  the stars ⁴  fought,

from their paths in the heavens ⁵  they fought against Sisera.

5:21 The Kishon River carried them off;

the river confronted them ⁶  – the Kishon River.

Step on the necks of the strong! ⁷ 

5:22 The horses’ ⁸  hooves pounded the ground; ⁹ 

the stallions galloped madly. ¹⁰ 

5:23 ‘Call judgment down on ¹¹  Meroz,’ says the Lord’s angelic ¹²  messenger;

‘Be sure ¹³  to call judgment down on ¹⁴  those who live there,

because they did not come to help in the Lord’s battle, ¹⁵ 

to help in the Lord’s battle against the warriors.’ ¹⁶ 

[5:19]  ¹ map For location see Map1 D4; Map2 C1; Map4 C2; Map5 F2; Map7 B1.

[5:19]  ² tn The contrastive conjunction “but” is interpretive.

[5:20]  ³ tn Or “from heaven.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[5:20]  ⁴ 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.

[5:20]  ⁵ tn The words “in the heavens” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[5:21]  ⁶ 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.

[5:21]  ⁷ 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.

[5:22]  ⁸ 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.

[5:22]  ⁹ tn The words “the ground” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “galloped, galloped.” The repetition is for emphasis and is more appropriately indicated in English with an adverb.

[5:23]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Curse Meroz.”

[5:23]  ¹² tn The adjective “angelic” is interpretive.

[5:23]  ¹³ tn Heb “Curse, cursing.” The Hebrew construction is emphatic.

[5:23]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “[to] curse.”

[5:23]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to the help of the Lord” (the same Hebrew phrase occurs in the following line). Another option is to read “to aid the Lord’s cause.”

[5:23]  ¹⁶ tn Or “along with the other warriors.”