ዲቦራ
1ናዖድ ከሞተ በኋላ እስራኤላውያን እንደ ገና በእግዚአብሔር ፊት ክፉ ድርጊት ፈጸሙ። 2ስለዚህም እግዚአብሔር በሐጾር ሆኖ ይገዛ ለነበረው ለከነዓን ንጉሥ ለኢያቢስ አሳልፎ ሸጣቸው። የኢያቢስ ሰራዊት አዛዥ፣ በሐሮሼትሐጎይም የሚኖረው ሲሣራ ነበረ፤ 3እርሱም ዘጠኝ መቶ የብረት ሠረገሎች ስለ ነበሩት እስራኤላውያንን ሃያ ዓመት እጅግ አስጨነቃቸው፤ እነርሱም ይረዳቸው ዘንድ ወደ እግዚአብሔር ጮኹ።
4በዚያን ጊዜ የለፊዶት ሚስት ነቢዪቱ ዲቦራ በእስራኤል ላይ ፈራጅ4፥4 በትውፊት መሳፍንት ማለት ነው ነበረች። 5እርሷም በኰረብታማው በኤፍሬም ምድር፣ በራማና በቤቴል መካከል ካለው የዲቦራ ዘንባባ ዛፍ ሥር ተቀምጣ ትፈርድ ነበር፤ እስራኤላውያንም ለፍርድ ወደ እርሷ ይመጡ ነበር። 6ዲቦራ፣ በንፍታሌም ውስጥ ቃዴስ በተባለች ከተማ ይኖር የነበረውን የአቢኒኤምን ልጅ ባራቅን አስጠርታ እንዲህ አለችው፤ “የእስራኤል አምላክ እግዚአብሔር እንዲህ ሲል ያዝሃል፤ ‘ተነሣ፤ ከንፍታሌምና ከዛብሎን ዐሥር ሺሕ ሰዎች ይዘህ ወደ ታቦር ተራራ ውጣ፤ 7እኔም የኢያቢስን ሰራዊት አዛዥ ሲሣራን ከሠረገሎቹና ከሰራዊቱ ጋር ቂሶን ወንዝ እንዲመጣ አነሣሣዋለሁ፤ በእጅህም አሳልፌ እሰጥሃለሁ።’ ” 8ባርቅም፣ “አብረሽኝ የምትሄጂ ከሆነ እሄዳለሁ፤ አብረሽኝ የማትሄጂ ከሆነ ግን አልሄድም” አላት።
9ዲቦራ መልሳ፣ “ይሁን እሺ፤ መሄዱን አብሬህ4፥9 ወይም፣ ነገር ግን ልትሄድ ወደ ዐቀድክበት ስፍራ እሄዳለሁ፤ በዚህ ሁኔታ የምትሄድ ከሆነ ግን ክብሩ ለአንተ አይሆንም፤ እግዚአብሔር ሲሣራን ለሴት አሳልፎ ይሰጣልና” አለችው። ስለዚህ ዲቦራ ከባርቅ ጋር ወደ ቃዴስ ሄደች፤ 10በዚያም ባርቅ ለዛብሎንና ለንፍታሌም ሰዎች ጥሪ አስተላለፈ፤ ዐሥር ሺሕ ሰዎች ተከተሉት፤ ዲቦራም አብራው ሄደች።
11በዚያን ጊዜ ቄናዊው ሔቤር፣ የሙሴ ዐማች የአባብ ልጆች ከሆኑት ከሌሎቹ ቄናውያን ተለይቶ በቃዴስ አጠገብ ጻዕናይም ከተባለ ቦታ ከሚገኘው ትልቅ ወርካ ጥግ ድንኳኑን ተክሎ ነበር።
12የአቢኒዔም ልጅ ባርቅ ወደ ታቦር ተራራ መሄዱን ሲሣራ በሰማ ጊዜ፣ 13ዘጠኝ መቶ የብረት ሠረገሎችንና ከአሪሶት ሐጎይም እስከ ቂሶን ወንዝ ያለውን ሰራዊቱን በሙሉ አሰባሰበ።
14በዚህ ጊዜ ዲቦራ ባርቅን፣ “ተነሣ! እግዚአብሔር ሲሣራን በእጅህ አሳልፎ የሰጠባት ቀን ይህች ናት፤ እነሆ እግዚአብሔር በፊትህ ቀድሞ ወጥቷል” አለችው። ስለዚህ ባርቅ ዐሥር ሺሕ ሰዎችን አስከትሎ ከታቦር ተራራ ወረደ። 15እግዚአብሔር ሲሣራንና ሠረገሎቹን ሁሉ በባርቅ ፊት በሰይፍ ስለት እጅግ ተሸንፈው ወደ ኋላ እንዲያፈገፍጉ አደረገ፤ ሲሣራም ከሠረገላው ወርዶ በእግሩ ሸሸ፤ 16ባርቅ ግን የሲሣራን ሠረገሎችና ሰራዊቱን እስከ አሪሶት ሐጎይም ድረስ አሳደዳቸው፤ የሲሣራ ሰራዊት በሙሉ በሰይፍ ወደቀ፤ በሕይወት የተረፈ አንድም ሰው አልነበረም።
17በሐጾር ንጉሥ በኢያቡስና በቄናዊው በሔቤር ጐሣ መካከል መልካም ግንኙነት ስለ ነበር ሲሣራ በእግሩ ሸሽቶ የቄናዊው የሔቤር ሚስት ወደ ሆነችው ወደ ኢያዔል ድንኳን ሮጠ።
18ኢያዔልም ወጥታ ሲሣራን ተቀበለችውና፣ “ጌታዬ፤ ወደ ውስጥ ግባ፤ ፈጽሞ አትፍራ” አለችው፤ ሲሣራም ወደ ድንኳኗ ገባ፤ እርሷም በልብስ ሸፍና ደበቀችው።
19ሲሣራም፣ “ጠምቶኛልና እባክሽን ውሃ አጠጪኝ” አላት፤ እርሷም የወተት ጮጮውን ከፍታ የሚጠጣውን ሰጠችው፤ እንደ ገናም ሸፈነችው።
20እርሱም፣ “በድንኳኑ በር ላይ ቁሚ፤ ማንም ሰው መጥቶ፣ ‘እዚህ ሰው አለ?’ ቢልሽ፣ ‘የለም’ በይ” አላት።
21የሔቤር ሚስት ኢያዔል ግን ሲሣራ ደክሞ፣ ከባድ እንቅልፍም ወስዶት ሳለ፣ የድንኳን ካስማና መዶሻ ይዛ በቀስታ ወደ እርሱ ቀረበች፤ ከዚያም ካስማውን በመዶሻ ጆሮ ግንዱ ላይ መትታ ከመሬት ጋር ሰፋችው፤ እርሱም ሞተ።
22ባርቅ ሲሣራን በመከታተል ላይ ስለ ነበር ከዚያ ሲደርስ፣ ኢያዔል ከድንኳኗ ወጥታ “ና፤ የምትፈልገውን ሰው አሳይሃለሁ” አለችው፤ ስለዚህ ከእርሷ ጋር ወደ ድንኳኗ ገባ፤ ሲሣራም በጆሮ ግንዱ ላይ ካስማ እንደ ተመታበት ሞቶ ተዘርሮ ነበረ።
23በዚያች ዕለት እግዚአብሔር የከነዓንን ንጉሥ ኢያቢስን በእስራኤላውያን ፊት እንዲሸነፍ አደረገው፤ 24ከነዓናዊውን ንጉሥ ኢያቢስን እስኪደመስሱ ድረስ የእስራኤላውያን ክንድ እየበረታ ሄደ።
Deborah
1Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, now that Ehud was dead. 2So the Lord sold them into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Sisera, the commander of his army, was based in Harosheth Haggoyim. 3Because he had nine hundred chariots fitted with iron and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the Lord for help.
4Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading4:4 Traditionally judging Israel at that time. 5She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided. 6She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor. 7I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’ ”
8Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.”
9“Certainly I will go with you,” said Deborah. “But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh. 10There Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali, and ten thousand men went up under his command. Deborah also went up with him.
11Now Heber the Kenite had left the other Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law,4:11 Or father-in-law and pitched his tent by the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh.
12When they told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, 13Sisera summoned from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River all his men and his nine hundred chariots fitted with iron.
14Then Deborah said to Barak, “Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?” So Barak went down Mount Tabor, with ten thousand men following him. 15At Barak’s advance, the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot.
16Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim, and all Sisera’s troops fell by the sword; not a man was left. 17Sisera, meanwhile, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was an alliance between Jabin king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite.
18Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come, my lord, come right in. Don’t be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.
19“I’m thirsty,” he said. “Please give me some water.” She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up.
20“Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he told her. “If someone comes by and asks you, ‘Is anyone in there?’ say ‘No.’ ”
21But Jael, Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.
22Just then Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man you’re looking for.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple—dead.
23On that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites. 24And the hand of the Israelites pressed harder and harder against Jabin king of Canaan until they destroyed him.
