After Ehud's death, Israel once again drifted away from God and did evil in His sight. As a result, the Lord handed them over to Jabin, a powerful Canaanite king who ruled in Hazor. His army commander was Sisera, a ruthless man with nine hundred iron chariots, who cruelly oppressed Israel for twenty years. In their distress, the Israelites cried out to the Lord for deliverance.
At that time, a prophetess named Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel. She held court beneath the Palm of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, where people came to her for judgment and guidance.
One day, Deborah summoned Barak, the son of Abinoam, from Kedesh in Naphtali, and delivered to him a message from God:
"Go and gather ten thousand men from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun. Lead them to Mount Tabor, for I will draw out Sisera with his chariots and troops to the Kishon River, and I will give him into your hands."
But Barak hesitated and said, "If you go with me, I will go; but if you don't go, I won't."
Deborah replied, "Very well, I will go with you. But because of the way you are going about this, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will hand Sisera over to a woman." So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh, where ten thousand men of Zebulun and Naphtali gathered to follow them into battle.
Meanwhile, a man named Heber the Kenite, a descendant of Moses' brother-in-law Hobab, had moved away from his people and pitched his tent near Zaanannim by Kedesh.
When Sisera learned that Barak had gone up to Mount Tabor, he mobilized all his chariots—nine hundred of iron—and his entire army to the Kishon River. Then Deborah gave the command:
"Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?"
Barak and his ten thousand warriors charged down Mount Tabor, and the Lord threw Sisera's army into confusion. The Israelites struck them down by the sword, and Sisera fled on foot, abandoning his chariot. Barak pursued the enemy to Harosheth Haggoyim until every soldier of Sisera's army was slain.
Sisera, exhausted and desperate, ran to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between her family and King Jabin. Jael came out to meet him and said kindly, "Come in, my lord. Don't be afraid." He entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.
"I'm thirsty," he said. "Please give me some water." But Jael gave him milk instead and tucked him in. Sisera, trusting her, said, "Stand at the tent's entrance, and if anyone asks if someone is here, say no." Then, exhausted, he fell into a deep sleep.
Quietly, Jael took a tent peg and a hammer, crept up to him, and drove the peg through his temple into the ground—killing him instantly.
When Barak arrived in pursuit, Jael went out to meet him and said, "Come, I will show you the man you're looking for." Inside her tent lay Sisera, dead, with the peg through his temple.
That day, God delivered Israel from the hand of Jabin, king of Canaan. From then on, Israel grew stronger and stronger until they completely destroyed King Jabin and his power.