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Judges 4:17

New American Standard Bible (NASB ©1995) [2]
— Now Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite, for [there was] peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
King James Version (KJV 1769) [2]
— Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite: for [there was] peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
English Revised Version (ERV 1885)
— Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite: for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
American Standard Version (ASV 1901) [2]
— Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
Webster's Revision of the KJB (WEB 1833)
— Howbeit, Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite: for [there was] peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
Darby's Translation (DBY 1890)
— And Sisera fled on foot to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
Rotherham's Emphasized Bible (EBR 1902)
— Now, Sisera, had fled on foot, unto the tent of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin, king of Hazer, and the house of Heber the Kenite.
Young's Literal Translation (YLT 1898)
— And Sisera hath fled on his feet unto the tent of Jael wife of Heber the Kenite, for peace [is] between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite;
Douay-Rheims Challoner Revision (DR 1750)
— But Sisara fleeing, came to the tent of Jahel, the wife of Haber, the Cinite, for there was peace between Jabin, the king of Asor, and the house of Haber, the Cinite.
Geneva Bible (GNV 1560)
— Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feete to the tent of Iael the wife of Heber the Kenite: (for peace was betweene Iabin the king of Hazor, ? betweene the house of Heber the Kenite)
Original King James Bible (AV 1611) [2]
— Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet, to the tent of Iael the wife of Heber the Kenite: for there was peace betweene Iabin the king of Hazor, and the house of Heber the Kenite.
Lamsa Bible (1957)
— However, Sisera fled on foot, and entered the tent of Anael the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between Nabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
Brenton Greek Septuagint (LXX, Restored Names)
— And Sisera{gr.Sisara} fled on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber{gr.Chaber} the Kenite his friend: for there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor{gr.Asor} and the house of Heber{gr.Chaber} the Kenite.
Full Hebrew Names / Holy Name KJV (2008) [2] [3]
— Howbeit Sisra fled away on his feet to the tent of Yael the wife of Chever the Qeni: for [there was] peace between Yavin the king of Chatzor and the house of Chever the Qeni.

Strong's Numbers & Hebrew NamesHebrew Old TestamentColor-Code/Key Word Studies
Howbeit Sîsrä´ סִיסרָא 5516
{5516} Prime
סִיסְרָא
Ciyc@ra'
{see-ser-aw'}
Of uncertain derivation; Sisera, the name of a Canaanitish king and of one of the Nethinim.
fled away 5127
{5127} Prime
נוּס
nuwc
{noos}
A primitive root; to flit, that is, vanish away (subside, escape; causatively chase, impel, deliver).
z8804
<8804> Grammar
Stem - Qal (See H8851)
Mood - Perfect (See H8816)
Count - 12562
on his feet 7272
{7272} Prime
רֶגֶל
regel
{reh'-gel}
From H7270; a foot (as used in walking); by implication a step; by euphemism the pudenda.
to x413
(0413) Complement
אֵל
'el
{ale}
(Used only in the shortened constructive form (the second form)); a primitive particle, properly denoting motion towards, but occasionally used of a quiescent position, that is, near, with or among; often in general, to.
the tent 168
{0168} Prime
אֹהֶל
'ohel
{o'-hel}
From H0166; a tent (as clearly conspicuous from a distance).
of Yä`ël יָעֵל 3278
{3278} Prime
יָעֵל
Ya`el
{yaw-ale'}
The same as H3277; Jael, a Canaanite.
the wife 802
{0802} Prime
אִשָּׁה
'ishshah
{ish-shaw'}
The first form is the feminine of H0376 or H0582; the second form is an irregular plural; a woman (used in the same wide sense as H0582).
of Çever חֶבֶר 2268
{2268} Prime
חֶבֶר
Cheber
{kheh'-ber}
The same as H2267; community; Cheber, the name of a Kenite and of three Israelites.
the Kênî קֵינִי: 7017
{7017} Prime
קֵינִי
Qeyniy
{kay-nee'}
Patronymic from H7014; a Kenite or member of the tribe of Kajin.
for x3588
(3588) Complement
כִּי
kiy
{kee}
A primitive particle (the full form of the prepositional prefix) indicating causal relations of all kinds, antecedent or consequent; (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjugation or adverb; often largely modified by other particles annexed.
[there was] peace 7965
{7965} Prime
שָׁלוֹם
shalowm
{shaw-lome'}
From H7999; safe, that is, (figuratively) well, happy, friendly; also (abstractly) welfare, that is, health, prosperity, peace.
between x996
(0996) Complement
בַּיִן
beyn
{bane}
(Sometimes in the plural masculine or feminine); properly the constructively contracted form of an otherwise unused noun from H0995; a distinction; but used only as a preposition, between (repeated before each noun, often with other particles); also as a conjugation, either... or.
Yävîn יָבִין 2985
{2985} Prime
יָבִין
Yabiyn
{yaw-bene'}
From H0995; intelligent; Jabin, the name of two Canaanitish kings.
the king 4428
{4428} Prime
מֶּלֶךְ
melek
{meh'-lek}
From H4427; a king.
of Çäxôr חָצוֹר 2674
{2674} Prime
חָצוֹר
Chatsowr
{khaw-tsore'}
A collective form of H2691; village; Chatsor, the name (thus simply) of two places in Palestine and of one in Arabia.
and the house 1004
{1004} Prime
בַּיִת
bayith
{bah'-yith}
Probably from H1129 abbreviated; a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etc.).
of Çever חֶבֶר 2268
{2268} Prime
חֶבֶר
Cheber
{kheh'-ber}
The same as H2267; community; Cheber, the name of a Kenite and of three Israelites.
the Kênî קֵינִי. 7017
{7017} Prime
קֵינִי
Qeyniy
{kay-nee'}
Patronymic from H7014; a Kenite or member of the tribe of Kajin.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary

Judges 4:17-18

_ _ Sisera fled ... to the tent of Jael — According to the usages of nomadic people, the duty of receiving the stranger in the sheik’s absence devolves on his wife, and the moment the stranger is admitted into his tent, his claim to be defended or concealed from his pursuers is established.

Matthew Henry's Commentary

Judges 4:17-24

_ _ We have seen the army of the Canaanites totally routed. It is said (Psalms 83:9, Psalms 83:10, where the defeat of this army is pleaded as a precedent for God's doing the like in after times) that they became as dung for the earth. Now here we have,

_ _ I. The fall of their general, Sisera, captain of the host, in whom, it is likely, Jabin their king put an entire confidence, and therefore was not himself present in the action. Let us trace the steps of this mighty man's fall.

_ _ 1. He quitted his chariot, and took to his feet, Judges 4:15, Judges 4:17. His chariots had been his pride and his confidence; and we may suppose he had therefore despised and defied the armies of the living God, because they were all on foot, and had neither chariot nor horse, as he had. Justly therefore is he thus made ashamed of his confidence, and forced to quit it, and thinks himself then most safe and easy when he has got clear of his chariot, though we may well suppose it the best made, and best drawn, of any of them. Thus are those disappointed who rest on the creature; like a broken reed, it not only breaks under them, but runs into their hand, and pierceth them with many sorrows. The idol may quickly become a burden (Isaiah 46:1), and what we were sick for God can make us sick of. How miserable doth Sisera look now he is dismounted! It is hard to say whether he blusheth or trembleth more. Put not your trust in princes, if they may so soon be brought to this, if he who but lately trusted to his arms with so much assurance must now trust to his heels only with so little.

_ _ 2. He fled for shelter to the tents of the Kenites, having no strong-hold, nor any place of is own in reach to retire to. The mean and solitary way of the Kenites' living, perhaps, he had formerly despised and ridiculed, and the more because religion was kept up among them; yet now he is glad to put himself under the protection of one of these tents: and he chooses the wife's tent or apartment, either because less suspected, or because it happened to be next to him, and the first he came to, Judges 4:17. And that which encouraged him to go thither was that at this time there was peace between his master and the house of Heber: not that there was any league offensive and defensive between them, only at present there were no indications of hostility. Jabin did them no harm, did not oppress them as he did the Israelites, their plain, quiet, harmless way of living making them not suspected nor feared, and perhaps God so ordering it as a recompence for their constant adherence to the true religion. Sisera thought he might therefore be safe among them; not considering that, though they themselves suffered not by Jabin's power, they heartily sympathized with the Israel of God that did.

_ _ 3. Jael invited him in, and bade him very welcome. Probably she stood at the tent door, to enquire what news from the army, and what the success of the battle which was fought not far off. (1.) She invited him in. Perhaps she stood waiting for an opportunity to show kindness to any distressed Israelite, if there should be occasion for it; but seeing Sisera come in great haste, panting and out of breath, she invited him to come and repose himself in her tent, in which, while she seemed to design the relieving of his fatigue, perhaps she really intended the retarding of his flight, that he might fall into the hands of Barak, who was not in a hot chase after him (Judges 4:18), and it may well questioned whether she had at first any thought of taking away his life, but rather God afterwards put it into her heart. (2.) She made very much of him, and seemed mighty careful to have him easy, as her invited guest. Was he weary? she finds him a very convenient place to repose himself in, and recruit his strength. Was he thirsty? well he might. Did he want a little water to cool his tongue? the best liquor her tent afforded was at his service, and that was milk (Judges 4:19), which, we may suppose, he drank heartily of, and, being refreshed with it, was the better disposed to sleep. Was he cold, or afraid of catching cold? or did he desire to be hid from the pursuers, if they should search that tent? she covered him with a mantle, Judges 4:18. All expressions of care for his safety. Only when he desired her to tell a lie for him, and to say he was not there, she declined making any such promise, Judges 4:20. We must not sin against God, no, not to oblige those we would show ourselves most observant of. Lastly, We must suppose she kept her tent as quiet as she could, and free from noise, that he might sleep the sooner and the faster. And now was Sisera least safe when he was most secure. How uncertain and precarious is human life! and what assurance can we have of it, when it may so easily be betrayed by those with whom it is trusted, and those may prove its destroyers who we hoped would be its protectors! It is best making God our friend, for he will not deceive us.

_ _ 4. When he lay fast asleep she drove a long nail through his temples, so fastened his head to the ground, and killed him, Judges 4:21. And, though this was enough to do the business, yet, to make sure work (if we translate it rightly, Judges 5:26), she cut off his head, and left it nailed there. Whether she designed this or no when she invited him into her tent does not appear; probably the thought was darted into her mind when she saw him lie so conveniently to receive such a fatal blow; and, doubtless, the thought brought with it evidence sufficient that it came not from Satan as a murderer and destroyer, but from God as a righteous judge and avenger, so much of brightness and heavenly light did she perceive in the inducements to it that offered themselves, the honour of God and the deliverance of Israel, and nothing of the blackness of malice, hatred, or personal revenge. (1.) It was a divine power that enabled her to do it, and inspired her with a more than manly courage. What if her hand should shake, and she should miss her blow? What if he should awake when she was attempting it? Or suppose some of his own attendants should follow him, and surprise her in the face, how dearly would she and all hers be made to pay for it? Yet, obtaining help of God, she did it effectually. (2.) It was a divine warrant that justified her in the doing of it; and therefore, since no such extraordinary commissions can now be pretended, it ought not in any case to be imitated. The laws of friendship and hospitality must be religiously observed, and we must abhor the thought of betraying any whom we have invited and encouraged to put a confidence in us. And, as to this act of Jael (like that of Ehud in the chapter before), we have reason to think she was conscious of such a divine impulse upon her spirit to do it as did abundantly satisfy herself (and it ought therefore to satisfy us) that it was well done. God's judgments are a great deep. The instrument of this execution was a nail of the tent, that is, one of the great pins with which the tent, or the stakes of it, were fastened. They often removing their tents, she had been used to drive these nails, and therefore knew how to do it the more dexterously on this great occasion. he that thought to destroy Israel with his many iron chariots is himself destroyed with one iron nail. Thus do the weak things of the world confound the mighty. See here Jael's glory and Sisera's shame. The great commander dies, [1.] In his sleep, fast asleep, and weary. It comes in as a reason why he stirred not, to make resistance. So fettered was he in the chains of sleep that he could not find his hands. Thus the stout-hearted are spoiled at thy rebuke, O God of Jacob! they are cast into a dead sleep, and so are made to sleep their last, Psalms 76:5, Psalms 76:6. Let not the strong man then glory in his strength; for when he sleeps where is it? It is weak, and he can do nothing; a child may insult him then, and steal his life from him; and yet if he sleep not he is soon spent and weary, and can do nothing either. Those words which we here put in a parenthesis (for he was weary) all the ancient versions read otherwise: he struggled (or started, as we say) and died, so the Syriac and Arabic, Exagitans ses mortuus est. He fainted and died, so the lxx. Consocians morte soporem, so the vulgar Latin, joining sleep and death together, seeing they are so near akin. He fainted and died. He dies, [2.] With his head nailed to the ground, an emblem of his earthly-mindedness. O curve in terram animoe! His ear (says bishop Hall) was fastened close to the earth, as if his body had been listening what had become of his soul. He dies, [3.] By the hand of a woman. This added to the shame of his death before men; and had he but known it, as Abimelech (Judges 9:54), we may well imagine how much it would have added to the vexation of his own heart.

_ _ II. The glory and joy of Israel hereupon. 1. Barak their leader finds his enemy dead, (Judges 4:22), and no doubt, he was very well pleased to find his work done so well to his hand, and so much to the glory of God and the confusion of his enemies. had he stood too nicely upon a point of honour, he would have resented it as an affront to have the general slain by any hand but his; but now he remembered that this diminution of his honour he was sentenced to undergo, for insisting upon Deborah's going with him (the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman), though then it was little thought that the prediction would be fulfilled in such a way as this. 2. Israel is completely delivered out of the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, Judges 4:23, Judges 4:24. They not only shook off his yoke by this day's victory, but they afterwards prosecuted the war against him, till they had destroyed him, he and his nation being by the divine appointment devoted to ruin and not to be spared. The Israelites, having soundly smarted for their foolish pity in not doing it before, resolved now it is in their power to indulge them no longer, but to make a thorough riddance of them, as a people to whom to show mercy was as contrary to their own interest as it was to God's command; and probably it is with an eye to the sentence they were under that this enemy is named three times here in these last two verses, and called king of Canaan; for as such he was to be destroyed; and so thoroughly was he destroyed that I do not remember to read of the kings of Canaan any more after this. The children of Israel would have prevented a great deal of mischief if they had sooner destroyed these Canaanites, as God had both commanded and enabled them; but better be wise late, and buy wisdom by experience, than never wise.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Judges 4:17

The tent of Jael — For women had their tents apart from their husbands. And here he thought to lurk more securely than in her husband's tent. Peace — Not a covenant of friendship, which they were forbidden to make with that cursed people, but only a cessation of hostilities, which he afforded them because they were peaceable people, abhorring war, and wholly minding pasturage, and were not Israelites, with whom his principal quarrel was; and especially by God's over — ruling disposal of his heart to favour them who were careful to keep themselves uncorrupted with Israel's sins, and therefore preserved from their plagues.

Geneva Bible Translation Notes

Judges 4:17

Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of (h) Heber the Kenite: for [there was] peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.

(h) Whose ancestors were strangers, but worshipped the true God, and therefore were joined with Israel.

Cross-Reference Topical ResearchStrong's Concordance
fled:

Job 12:19-21 He leadeth princes away spoiled, and overthroweth the mighty. ... He poureth contempt upon princes, and weakeneth the strength of the mighty.
Job 18:7-12 The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down. ... His strength shall be hungerbitten, and destruction [shall be] ready at his side.
Job 40:11-12 Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one [that is] proud, and abase him. ... Look on every one [that is] proud, [and] bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place.
Psalms 37:35-36 I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. ... Yet he passed away, and, lo, he [was] not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.
Psalms 107:40 He poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the wilderness, [where there is] no way.
Proverbs 29:23 A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.
Amos 5:19-20 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. ... [Shall] not the day of the LORD [be] darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?

Jael:

Judges 5:6 In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways.
Judges 5:24 Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent.

peace:

Psalms 69:22 Let their table become a snare before them: and [that which should have been] for [their] welfare, [let it become] a trap.
Isaiah 57:21 [There is] no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
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Chain-Reference Bible SearchCross References with Concordance

Jg 5:6, 24. Jb 12:19; 18:7; 40:11. Ps 37:35; 69:22; 107:40. Pv 29:23. Is 57:21. Am 5:19.

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