---
title: "Judges 5 – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin Vulgate · Bless"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/judges/5/
description: "The canticle of Debbora and Barac after their victory. Judges 5 in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin Vulgate."
---

# Judges 5

Judges 5 is chapter 5 of 21 in the Book of Judges. Here are all 32 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

> The canticle of Debbora and Barac after their victory.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## Judges 5 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. In that day, Deborah and Barak, the son of Abinoam, sang out, saying:
2. “All you of Israel who have willingly offered your lives to danger, bless the Lord!
3. Listen, O kings! Pay attention, O princes! It is I, it is I, who will sing to the Lord. I will sing a psalm to the Lord, the God of Israel!
4. O Lord, when you departed from Seir, and you crossed through the regions of Edom, the earth and the heavens were moved, and the clouds rained down water.
5. The mountains flowed away before the face of the Lord, and Sinai, before the face of the Lord God of Israel.
6. In the days of Shamgar, the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the paths were quiet. And whoever entered by them, walked along rough byways.
7. The strong men ceased, and they rested in Israel, until Deborah rose up, until a mother rose up in Israel.
8. The Lord chose new wars, and he himself overturned the gates of the enemies. A shield with a spear was not seen among the forty thousand of Israel.
9. My heart loves the leaders of Israel. All you who, of your own free will, offered yourselves during a crisis, bless the Lord.
10. You who ride upon donkeys laboring, and you who sit in judgment, and you who walk along the way, speak out.
11. Where the chariots were struck together, and the army of the enemies was choked, in that place, let the justices of the Lord be described, and let his clemency be for the brave of Israel. Then did the people of the Lord descend to the gates, and obtain leadership.
12. Rise up, rise up, O Deborah! Rise up, rise up, and speak a canticle! Rise up, Barak, and seize your captives, O son of Abinoam.
13. The remnants of the people were saved. The Lord contended with the strong.
14. Out of Ephraim, he destroyed those with Amalek, and after him, out of Benjamin, those of your people, O Amalek. From Machir, there descended leaders, and from Zebulun, those who led the army to war.
15. The commanders of Issachar were with Deborah, and they followed the steps of Barak, who endangered himself, like one rushing headlong into a chasm. Reuben was divided against himself. Contention was found among great souls.
16. Why do you live between two borders, so that you hear the bleating of the flocks? Reuben was divided against himself. Contention was found among great souls.
17. Gilead rested beyond the Jordan, and Dan was occupied with ships. Asher was living on the shore of the sea, and dwelling in the ports.
18. Yet truly, Zebulun and Naphtali offered their lives to death in the region of Merom.
19. The kings came and fought; the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach, beside the waters of Megiddo. And yet they took no spoils.
20. The conflict against them was from heaven. The stars, remaining in their order and courses, fought against Sisera.
21. The torrent of Kishon dragged away their carcasses, the onrushing torrent, the torrent of Kishon. O my soul, tread upon the stalwart!
22. The hoofs of the horses were broken, while the strongest of the enemies fled away with fury, and rushed on to ruin.
23. ‘Cursed be the land of Meroz!’ said the Angel of the Lord. ‘Cursed be its inhabitants! For they did not come to the aid of the Lord, to the assistance of his most valiant men.’
24. Blessed among women is Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. And blessed is she in her tabernacle.
25. He begged her for water, and she gave him milk, and she offered him butter in a dish fit for princes.
26. She put her left hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workman’s mallet. And she struck Sisera, seeking in his head a place for the wound, and strongly piercing his temples.
27. Between her feet, he was ruined. He fainted away and passed on. He curled up before her feet, and he lay there lifeless and miserable.
28. His mother gazed through a window and wailed. And she spoke from an upper room: ‘Why does his chariot delay in returning? Why are the feet of his team of horses so slow?’
29. One who was wiser than the rest of his wives responded to her mother-in-law with this:
30. ‘Perhaps he is now dividing the spoils, and the most beautiful among the women is being selected for him. Garments of diverse colors are being delivered to Sisera as spoils, and various goods are being collected for the adornment of necks.’
31. O Lord, so may all your enemies perish! But may those who love you shine with splendor, as the sun shines at its rising.”
32. And the land rested for forty years.

## Judges 5 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. Cecineruntque Debbora et Barac filius Abinoëm in illo die, dicentes:
2. Qui sponte obtulistis de Israël animas vestras ad periculum, benedicite Domino.
3. Audite, reges; auribus percipite, principes: ego sum, ego sum, quæ Domino canam, psallam Domino Deo Israël.
4. Domine, cum exires de Seir, et transires per regiones Edom, terra mota est, cælique ac nubes distillaverunt aquis.
5. Montes fluxerunt a facie Domini, et Sinai a facie Domini Dei Israël.
6. In diebus Samgar filii Anath, in diebus Jahel quieverunt semitæ: et qui ingrediebantur per eas, ambulaverunt per calles devios.
7. Cessaverunt fortes in Israël, et quieverunt: donec surgeret Debbora, surgeret mater in Israël.
8. Nova bella elegit Dominus, et portas hostium ipse subvertit: clypeus et hasta si apparuerint in quadraginta millibus Israël.
9. Cor meum diligit principes Israël: qui propria voluntate obtulistis vos discrimini, benedicite Domino.
10. Qui ascenditis super nitentes asinos, et sedetis in judicio, et ambulatis in via, loquimini.
11. Ubi collisi sunt currus, et hostium suffocatus est exercitus, ibi narrentur justitiæ Domini, et clementia in fortes Israël: tunc descendit populus Domini ad portas, et obtinuit principatum.
12. Surge, surge Debbora; surge, surge, et loquere canticum: surge Barac, et apprehende captivos tuos, fili Abinoëm.
13. Salvatæ sunt reliquiæ populi: Dominus in fortibus dimicavit.
14. Ex Ephraim delevit eos in Amalec, et post eum ex Benjamin in populos tuos, o Amalec: de Machir principes descenderunt, et de Zabulon qui exercitum ducerent ad bellandum.
15. Duces Issachar fuere cum Debbora, et Barac vestigia sunt secuti, qui quasi in præceps ac barathrum se discrimini dedit: diviso contra se Ruben, magnanimorum reperta est contentio.
16. Quare habitas inter duos terminos, ut audias sibilos gregum? diviso contra se Ruben, magnanimorum reperta est contentio.
17. Galaad trans Jordanem quiescebat, et Dan vacabat navibus: Aser habitabat in littore maris, et in portubus morabatur.
18. Zabulon vero et Nephthali obtulerunt animas suas morti in regione Merome.
19. Venerunt reges et pugnaverunt: pugnaverunt reges Chanaan in Thanach juxta aquas Mageddo, et tamen nihil tulere prædantes.
20. De cælo dimicatum est contra eos: stellæ manentes in ordine et cursu suo, adversus Sisaram pugnaverunt.
21. Torrens Cison traxit cadavera eorum, torrens Cadumim, torrens Cison: conculca, anima mea, robustos.
22. Ungulæ equorum ceciderunt, fugientibus impetu, et per præceps ruentibus fortissimis hostium.
23. Maledicite terræ Meroz, dixit angelus Domini: maledicite habitatoribus ejus, quia non venerunt ad auxilium Domini, in adjutorium fortissimorum ejus.
24. Benedicta inter mulieres Jahel uxor Haber Cinæi, et benedicatur in tabernaculo suo.
25. Aquam petenti lac dedit, et in phiala principum obtulit butyrum.
26. Sinistram manum misit ad clavum, et dexteram ad fabrorum malleos. Percussitque Sisaram quærens in capite vulneri locum, et tempus valide perforans:
27. inter pedes ejus ruit; defecit, et mortuus est: volvebatur ante pedes ejus, et jacebat exanimis et miserabilis.
28. Per fenestram respiciens, ululabat mater ejus: et de cœnaculo loquebatur: Cur moratur regredi currus ejus? quare tardaverunt pedes quadrigarum illius?
29. Una sapientior ceteris uxoribus ejus, hæc socrui verba respondit:
30. Forsitan nunc dividit spolia, et pulcherrima feminarum eligitur ei: vestes diversorum colorum Sisaræ traduntur in prædam, et supellex varia ad ornanda colla congeritur.
31. Sic pereant omnes inimici tui, Domine: qui autem diligunt te, sicut sol in ortu suo splendet, ita rutilent.
32. Quievitque terra per quadraginta annos.

## Bishop Challoner's notes

Bp. Richard Challoner, notes on the Douay-Rheims (1750); they comment on its older wording.
- Verse 6: The ways to the sanctuary of God were unfrequented: and men walked in the by-ways of error and sin.
- Verse 14: “Out of Ephraim” … The enemies straggling in their flight were destroyed, as they were running through the land of Ephraim, and of Benjamin, which lies after, that is beyond Ephraim: and so on to the very confines of Amalec. Or, it alludes to former victories of the people of God, particularly that which was freshest in memory, when the men of Ephraim and Benjamin, with Aod at their head, overthrew their enemies the Moabites with the Amalecites their allies. See chap. 3.-- Ibid.
- Verse 14: “Machir” … The tribe of Manasses, whose eldest son was Machir.
- Verse 15: “Divided against himself” … By this it seems that the valient men of the tribe of Ruben were divided in their sentiments, with relation to this war; which division kept them at home within their own borders, to hear the bleating of their flocks.
- Verse 23: “Meroz” … Where this land of Meroz was, which is here laid under a curse, we cannot find: nor is there mention of it anywhere else in holy writ. In the spiritual sense, they are cursed who refuse to assist the people of God in their warfare against their spiritual enemies.

Source: Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain; Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592).