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The Lord turned them over to[a] King Jabin of Canaan, who ruled in Hazor.[b] The general of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth Haggoyim.[c] The Israelites cried out for help to the Lord, because Sisera[d] had 900 chariots with iron-rimmed wheels,[e] and he cruelly[f] oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.

Now Deborah, a prophetess,[g] wife of Lappidoth, was[h] leading[i] Israel at that time.

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Footnotes

  1. Judges 4:2 tn Heb “the Lord sold them into the hands of.”
  2. Judges 4:2 tn Or “King Jabin of Hazor, a Canaanite ruler.”
  3. Judges 4:2 tn Or “Harosheth of the Pagan Nations”; cf. KJV “Harosheth of the Gentiles.” “Haroshet” may mean “Forest [area]” or be a reference to some sort of carving.
  4. Judges 4:3 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Sisera) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  5. Judges 4:3 tn Regarding the translation “chariots with iron-rimmed wheels,” see Y. Yadin, The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands, 255, and the article by R. Drews, “The ‘Chariots of Iron’ of Joshua and Judges,” JSOT 45 (1989): 15-23.
  6. Judges 4:3 tn Heb “with strength.”
  7. Judges 4:4 tn Heb “ a woman, a prophetess.” In Hebrew idiom the generic “woman” sometimes precedes the more specific designation. See GKC 437-38 §135.b.
  8. Judges 4:4 tn Heb “she was.” The pronoun refers back to the nominative absolute “Deborah.” Hebrew style sometimes employs such resumptive pronouns when lengthy qualifiers separate the subject from the verb.
  9. Judges 4:4 tn Or “judging.”

So the Lord sold them(A) into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor.(B) Sisera,(C) the commander of his army, was based in Harosheth Haggoyim. Because he had nine hundred chariots fitted with iron(D) and had cruelly oppressed(E) the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the Lord for help.

Now Deborah,(F) a prophet,(G) the wife of Lappidoth, was leading[a] Israel at that time.

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Footnotes

  1. Judges 4:4 Traditionally judging