12. Lead on, Deborah, lead on!Lead on! Sing a song! Lead on!Forward, Barak son of Abinoam,lead your captives away!
13. Then the faithful ones came down to their leaders;the Lord's people came to him ready to fight.
14. They came from Ephraim into the valley,behind the tribe of Benjamin and its people.The commanders came down from Machir,the officers down from Zebulun.
15. The leaders of Issachar came with Deborah;yes, Issachar came and Barak too,and they followed him into the valley.But the tribe of Reuben was divided;they could not decide whether to come.
16. Why did they stay behind with the sheep?To listen to shepherds calling the flocks?Yes, the tribe of Reuben was divided;they could not decide whether to come.
17. The tribe of Gad stayed east of the Jordan,and the tribe of Dan remained by the ships.The tribe of Asher stayed by the coast;they remained along the shore.
18. But the people of Zebulun and Naphtalirisked their lives on the battlefield.
19. At Taanach, by the stream of Megiddo,the kings came and fought;the kings of Canaan fought,but they took no silver away.
20. The stars fought from the sky;as they moved across the sky,they fought against Sisera.
21. A flood in the Kishon swept them away —the onrushing River Kishon.I shall march, march on, with strength!
22. Then the horses came galloping on,stamping the ground with their hooves.
23. “Put a curse on Meroz,” says the angel of the Lord,“a curse, a curse on those who live there.They did not come to help the Lord,come as soldiers to fight for him.”
24. The most fortunate of women is Jael,the wife of Heber the Kenite —the most fortunate of women who live in tents.
25. Sisera asked for water, but she gave him milk;she brought him cream in a beautiful bowl.