FOR a moment the two armies looked at one another across the Valley of Jezreel. Then Deborah cried to Barak, ‘Up; this is the day in which the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand!’ The Israelites fell upon their enemy, and as they did so the Kishon’s waters rose in flood; Sisera’s prancing horses slipped, and Barak’s men slew their fallen riders in the river.* Retreat became a rout; but Sisera escaped, taking refuge in the tents of his ally, Heber.

Heber’s wife Jael hastily wrapped him in a blanket, and gave him some milk; and when she had promised to tell any visitors that she was quite alone, Sisera fell asleep from weariness. As he slept, Jael went softly over to him, took a tentpeg in one hand, and a hammer in the other, and pinned him to the floor right through the temples. Thus was Deborah’s prophecy fulfilled, for Sisera died by a woman’s hand, though not her own. And taking heart the Israelites pursued their advantage, until Jabin himself was overthrown.