Deborah
A prophetess and the only woman to judge Israel, who held court beneath a palm tree in the hill country of Ephraim. When Jabin's commander Sisera oppressed Israel with nine hundred iron chariots, she summoned Barak to muster ten thousand men at Mount Tabor; he refused to go without her, and she warned him that the honour of the day would fall to a woman. The Kishon torrent swept away the chariots, Sisera fled on foot, and Jael killed him in her tent. The victory song in Judges 5, one of the oldest passages in the Bible, celebrates her as 'a mother in Israel'.
What we know — and how we know it
Where in scripture
JudgesNow Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, judged Israel at that time.
Judges 4:4 — Judging Israel
Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying,
Judges 5:1 — The song of Deborah
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, a public-domain translation.
Family
In their own words — 4 recorded sayings
“And she sent for Barak, the son of Abinoam, from Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, given orders saying, Go and get your force into line in Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun? And I will make Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his war-carriages and his forces, come against you at the river Kishon, where I will give him into your hands.” — Judges 4:6-7
“And she said, I will certainly go with you: though you will get no honour in your undertaking, for the Lord will give Sisera into the hands of a woman. So Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.” — Judges 4:9
“Then Deborah said to Barak, Up! for today the Lord has given Sisera into your hands: has not the Lord gone out before you? So Barak went down from Mount Tabor and ten thousand men after him.” — Judges 4:14
“Because of the flowing hair of the fighters in Israel, because the people gave themselves freely, give praise to the Lord. Give attention, O kings; give ear, O rulers; I, even I, will make a song to the Lord; I will make melody to the Lord, the God of Israel. Lord, when you went out from Seir, moving like an army from the field of Edom, the earth was shaking and the heavens were troubled, and the clouds were dropping water. The mountains were shaking before the Lord, before the Lord, the God of Israel. In the days of Shamgar, the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were not used,…” — Judges 5:2-31
Speaker attribution: Clear Bible MACULA (CC BY 4.0). Wording: Bible in Basic English (public domain).
Events
In art
