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LXX Judges

Septuagint

About this book
Chapter 5

1 And Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang in that day, saying, 2 A revelation was made in Israel when the people were made willing: Bless the Lord. 3 Hear, you kings, and listen, rulers: I will sing, it is I who will sing to the Lord, it is I, I will sing a psalm to the Lord the God of Israel. 4 Lord, in your going forth on Seir, when you went forth out of the land of Edom, the earth quaked and the heaven dropped dews, and the clouds dropped water. 5 The mountains were shaken before the face of the Lord Eloi, this Sinai before the face of the Lord God of Israel. 6 In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, they deserted the ways, and went in by-ways; they went in crooked paths. 7 The mighty men in Israel failed, they failed until Deborah arose, until she arose a mother in Israel. 8 They chose new gods;⁠ then the cities of rulers fought; there was not a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel. 9 My heart inclines to the orders given in Israel; you that are willing among the people, bless the Lord. 10 You that mount a female donkey at noon-day, you that sit on the judgment-seat, and walk by the roads of those who sit in judgment by the way; 11 declare, you that are delivered from the noise of disturbers among the drawers of water; there they will ascribe righteous acts to the Lord: increase righteous acts in Israel: then the people of the Lord went down to the cities. 12 Awake, awake, Deborah; awake, awake, utter a song: arise, Barak, and lead your captivity captive, son of Abinoam. 13 Then went down the remnant to the strong, the people of the Lord went down for him among the mighty ones. 14 From me Ephraim rooted them out in Amalek, behind you was Benjamin among your peoples: with me Machir came down searching out, and from Zebulun came they that draw with the scribe's pen of record. 15 And princes in Issachar were with Deborah and Barak, thus she sent Barak on his feet in the valleys into the portions of Reuben; great pangs reached to the heart. 16 Why did they sit between the sheepfolds to hear the piping of messengers for the divisions of Reuben? there were great searchings of heart. 17 Gilead is on the other side of Jordan where he pitched his tents; and why does Dan remain in ships? Asher sat down on the sea-coasts, and he will tabernacle at his ports. 18 The people Zebulun exposed their soul to death, and Naphtali came to the high places of their land. 19 Their kings came, they set themselves in array, then the kings of Canaan fought in Taanach at the water of Megiddo; they took no gift of money. 20 The stars from heaven set themselves in array, they set themselves to fight with Sisera out of their paths. 21 The brook of Kishon swept them away, the brook of the ancients, the brook Kishon:⁠ my mighty soul will trample him down. 22 When the hoofs of the horse were entangled, his mighty ones earnestly hastened 23 to curse Meroz: Curse it, said the angel of the Lord; cursed is every one that dwells in it, because they did not come to the help of the Lord, to his help among the mighty. 24 Blessed among women be Jael wife of Heber the Kenite; let her be blessed above women in tents. 25 He asked for water, she gave him milk in a dish; she brought butter of princes. 26 She stretched forth her left hand to the nail, and her right to the workmen's hammer, and she struck Sisera with it, she nailed through his head and struck him; she nailed through his temples. 27 He rolled down between her feet; he fell and lay between her feet; he bowed and fell: where he bowed, there he fell dead. 28 The mother of Sisera looked down through the window out of the loophole, saying, Why was his chariot ashamed? why did the wheels of his chariots wait? 29 Her wise ladies answered her, and she returned answers to herself, saying, 30 Will they not find him dividing the captured goods? he will surely show compassion to the head of a man:⁠ there are captured dyed garments for Sisera, captured garments of various dyes, dyed embroidered garments, they are the captured goods for his neck. 31 Thus let all your enemies perish, Lord: and they that love him shall be as the going forth of the sun in his strength. And the land had rest forty years.

Texts in conversation

Compare Judges 5:21 and LXX Judges 5:21

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

In Judges 5, an obscure phrase about the Kishon River led to many translations and interpretations. While often translated as “rushing torrent,” the Greek Septuagint translates it as “stream of the ancients,” perhaps to connect it to the primordial past.

Passages

Judges 5:21

Hebrew Bible
20 From the sky the stars fought, from their paths in the heavens they fought against Sisera. 21 The onrushing torrent* carried them off; the river confronted them—the Kishon River. Step on the necks of the strong! 22 “The horses’ hooves pounded the ground; the stallions galloped madly. 23 ‘Call judgment down on Meroz,’ says the angel of the Lord; ‘Be sure to call judgment down on those who live there, because they did not come to help in the Lord’s battle, to help in the Lord’s battle against the warriors.’
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Judges

LXX Judges 5:21

Septuagint
20 The stars from heaven set themselves in array, they set themselves to fight with Sisera out of their paths. 21 The brook of Kishon swept them away, the brook of the ancients, the brook Kishon: my mighty soul will trample him down. 22 When the hoofs of the horse were entangled, his mighty ones earnestly hastened 23 to curse Meroz: Curse it, said the angel of the Lord; cursed is every one that dwells in it, because they did not come to the help of the Lord, to his help among the mighty.
200–101 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Judges

References

"... Obscure words ... Another example is in Judges 5:21. The phrase today translated as “ancient torrent” or “onrushing torrent,” puzzled the ancient translators. LXXa, Vulgate, and Syriac all transliterated it in their various ways, taking it as a proper name, while LXXb has “stream of the ancients,” connecting the word, reasonably enough, with the root. Targum Jonathan also makes the same connection, but with a difference, rendering the phrase as “the stream by which signs and miracles were performed for Israel in ancient times” ... presumably a reference to the miracles of Elijah at Carmel (1 Kings 18:20-40). Again, the targumist could have followed the same tack as one of the other translations, but he wanted to make an edifying connection between two points of the history of Israel ..."
Edward M. Cook, “The Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible in the Targums,” in A Companion to Biblical Interpretation in Early Judaism, ed. Matthias Henze (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012), 92–117.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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