Jael Kills Sisera

Sisera flees to Jael's tent because Heber's house is at peace with Jabin. Jael receives him, gives him drink and cover, and he asks her to guard the entrance and hide his presence.

M¹⁷eanwhile, Sisera had fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. ¹⁸Jael went out to greet Sisera and said to him, “Come in, my lord. Come in with me. Do not be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket. ¹⁹Sisera said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a container of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him again. ²⁰“Stand at the entrance to the tent,” he said, “and if anyone comes and asks you, ‘Is there a man here?’ say, ‘No.’”

While Sisera lies asleep from exhaustion, Jael drives a tent peg through his temple and kills him. When Barak arrives, she leads him in to see the man he has been chasing.

²¹But as he lay sleeping from exhaustion, Heber’s wife Jael took a tent peg, grabbed a hammer, and went silently to Sisera. She drove the peg through his temple and into the ground, and he died. ²²When Barak arrived in pursuit of Sisera, Jael went out to greet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man you are seeking.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera dead, with a tent peg through his temple.

On that day God subdues Jabin before Israel, and Israel's strength keeps growing until Jabin is destroyed. Sisera's death opens into the larger defeat of Canaanite rule.

²³On that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites. ²⁴And the hand of the Israelites grew stronger and stronger against Jabin king of Canaan until they destroyed him.