s she stood amid the stooks,
Praising God with sweetest looks.

Sure, I said, Heaven did not mean
Where I reap thou shouldst but glean;
Lay thy sheaf adown and come,
Share my harvest and my home.
--_Thomas Hood_.

{50}

{51}

DEBORAH AND JAEL

PERSONS OF THE STORY.

_Deborah, the Prophetess.
Jael, wife of Heber, the Kenite.
Jabin, King of Canaan.
Sisera, captain of Jabin's host.
Heber, the Kenite.
Barak, leader of the Israelites_.

PLACE OF THE STORY.

"The Palm Tree of Deborah."
The River Kishon.
The Tent of Heber, the Kenite.

DEBORAH AND JAEL.

THE STORY OF TWO WOMEN WHO HELPED TO OVERCOME
AND KILL A MIGHTY WARRIOR.

And the children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of the
Lord. And the Lord gave them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan,
who reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera. And the
children of Israel cried to the Lord: for he had nine hundred chariots
of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of
Israel.

{52}

Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, judged Israel at
that time. And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah
and Beth-el in the hill country of Ephraim: and the children of Israel
came up to her for judgment. And she sent and called Barak the son of
Abinoam out of Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, "Hath not the Lord,
the God of Israel: commanded, saying, 'Go to Mount Tabor, and take
with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the
children of Zebulun? And I will bring to thee to the river Kishon
Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his host;
and I will deliver him into thine hand.'"

And Barak said to her, "If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but
if thou wilt not go with me, I will not go."

And she said, "I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey
that thou takest shall not be for thine honor; for the Lord will give
Sisera into the hand of a woman."

And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh. And Barak called the
tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh; and there went up
ten thousand men with him: and Deborah went up with him. Now Heber the
Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, and had pitched his
tent by an oak near Kedesh. And they told Sisera that Barak the son of
Abinoam was gone up to Mount Tabor. And Sisera gathered together all
his chariot