Juges 5

¹ On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song:

² “When the princes take the lead in Israel, when the people volunteer, bless the LORD.

³ Listen, O kings! Give ear, O princes! I will sing to the LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD, the God of Israel.

⁴ O LORD, when You went out from Seir, when You marched from the land of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens poured out rain, and the clouds poured down water.

⁵ The mountains quaked before the LORD, the One of Sinai, before the LORD, the God of Israel.

⁶ In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were deserted and the travelers took the byways.

⁷ Life in the villages ceased; it ended in Israel, until I, Deborah, arose, a mother in Israel.

⁸ When they chose new gods, then war came to their gates. Not a shield or spear was found among forty thousand in Israel.

⁹ My heart is with the princes of Israel, with the volunteers among the people. Bless the LORD!

¹⁰ You who ride white donkeys, who sit on saddle blankets, and you who travel the road, ponder

¹¹ the voices of the singers at the watering places. There they shall recount the righteous acts of the LORD, the righteous deeds of His villagers in Israel. Then the people of the LORD went down to the gates:

Note · Juges 5.1–11

La louange part d’une vie commune devenue précaire

Le chant associe la sortie de Dieu depuis Séir au souvenir du Sinaï. Il donne à Débora une place maternelle dans une communauté dont les routes ne sont plus sûres. Ces images expriment la portée de la délivrance ; elles ne fournissent pas une description météorologique complète ni un portrait biologique de l’autorité féminine.

¹² ‘Awake, awake, O Deborah! Awake, awake, sing a song! Arise, O Barak, and take hold of your captives, O son of Abinoam!’

¹³ Then the survivors came down to the nobles; the people of the LORD came down to me against the mighty.

¹⁴ Some came from Ephraim, with their roots in Amalek; Benjamin came with your people after you. The commanders came down from Machir, the bearers of the marshal’s staff from Zebulun.

¹⁵ The princes of Issachar were with Deborah, and Issachar was with Barak, rushing into the valley at his heels. In the clans of Reuben there was great indecision.

¹⁶ Why did you sit among the sheepfolds to hear the whistling for the flocks? In the clans of Reuben there was great indecision.

¹⁷ Gilead remained beyond the Jordan. Dan, why did you linger by the ships? Asher stayed at the coast and remained in his harbors.

¹⁸ Zebulun was a people who risked their lives; Naphtali, too, on the heights of the battlefield.

Note · Juges 5.12–18

Le chant évalue les solidarités entre tribus

Certains groupes ont pris des risques, d’autres sont restés à leurs occupations. Les hésitations de Ruben font contraste avec l’engagement de Zabulon et de Nephthali. Ce jugement appartient à la mémoire de ce combat ; il ne permet pas d’accuser toute personne qui refuse une guerre ni de classer durablement les descendants selon la valeur attribuée à leurs ancêtres.

¹⁹ Kings came and fought; then the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo, but they took no plunder of silver.

²⁰ From the heavens the stars fought; from their courses they fought against Sisera.

²¹ The River Kishon swept them away, the ancient river, the River Kishon. March on, O my soul, in strength!

²² Then the hooves of horses thundered—the mad galloping of his stallions.

²³ ‘Curse Meroz,’ says the angel of the LORD. ‘Bitterly curse her inhabitants; for they did not come to help the LORD, to help the LORD against the mighty.’

Note · Juges 5.19–23

Le cosmos et le torrent participent au langage de la victoire

Les étoiles combattent et le Kison entraîne les adversaires. La poésie élargit le combat à la création, sans livrer une explication physique de chaque image. La malédiction de Méroz reproche un secours refusé ; elle ne confère pas au lecteur le pouvoir de maudire une ville ou de désigner ses propres opposants comme ennemis de Dieu.

²⁴ Most blessed among women is Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, most blessed of tent-dwelling women.

²⁵ He asked for water, and she gave him milk. In a magnificent bowl she brought him curds.

²⁶ She reached for the tent peg, her right hand for the workman’s hammer. She struck Sisera and crushed his skull; she shattered and pierced his temple.

²⁷ At her feet he collapsed, he fell, there he lay still; at her feet he collapsed, he fell; where he collapsed, there he fell dead.

²⁸ Sisera’s mother looked through the window; she peered through the lattice and lamented: ‘Why is his chariot so long in coming? What has delayed the clatter of his chariots?’

²⁹ Her wisest ladies answer; indeed she keeps telling herself,

³⁰ ‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoil—a girl or two for each warrior, a plunder of dyed garments for Sisera, the spoil of embroidered garments for the neck of the looter?’

³¹ So may all Your enemies perish, O LORD! But may those who love You shine like the sun at its brightest.” And the land had rest for forty years.

Note · Juges 5.24–31

Le retournement final ne doit pas effacer les personnes

Jaël est célébrée, tandis que la mère de Sisera se rassure en imaginant des captives et du butin. Le chant expose un horizon où les femmes peuvent être réduites à des prises de guerre. Sa fin affirme la chute des ennemis et le repos ; une lecture chrétienne la met en dialogue avec l’amour des ennemis demandé en Matthieu 5.44.