Judges 5:26
in Judges 5She 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.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
She put her hand to the tent-pin, And her right hand to the workmen’s hammer; And with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote through his head; Yea, she pierced and struck through his temples.
KJV
She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen’s hammer; and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples.
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This verse in Judges 5
Commentary
5 notes on this verseWe read it she smote off his head, probably with his own sword, which, now that his head was nailed through, she durst take from his side, but not before, for fear of waking him. But because there was no occasion for cutting off his head, nor was it mentioned in the history, many think it should be read, she struck through his head.
This site's exposition
She reached for the tent peg
on Judges 5:26-27
The song says she "crushed his skull" and "pierced his temple", where 4:21 has her drive the peg into the ground as he slept, the poem heightening what the prose gives as mechanics. Verse 27 slows to one body falling, "At her feet he collapsed, he fell", the verbs said three times. Named writers read the crushed head back to Genesis 3:15 on their own authority.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
She put her hand to the nail,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
She smote off his head - The original does not warrant this translation; nor is it supported by fact. She smote his head, and transfixed him through the temples. It was his head that received the death wound, and the place where this wound was inflicted was the temples. The manner in which Jael despatched Sisera seems to have been this: 1. Observing him to be in a profound sleep she took a workman’s hammer, probably a joiner’s mallet, and with one blow on the head deprived him of all sense.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Rather “she smote his head, and she struck and pierced through his temple.”
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יָדָהּ֙ | yadah | hand her | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| לַיָּתֵ֣ד | laiyated | to the peg | H3489 → | 25 times |
| תִּשְׁלַ֔חְנָה | tishlachnah | they stretched out | H7971 → | 845 times |
| וִֽימִינָ֖הּ | viminah | and right [hand] her | H3225 → | 140 times |
| לְהַלְמ֣וּת | lehalmut | to a hammer of | H1989 → | |
| עֲמֵלִ֑ים | ʾamelim | workmen | H6001 → | |
| וְהָלְמָ֤ה | vehalmah | and she struck | H1986 → | |
| סִֽיסְרָא֙ | sisera' | Sisera | H5516 → | 21 times |
| מָחֲקָ֣ה | machakah | she shattered | H4277 → | |
| רֹאשׁ֔וֹ | rosho | head his | H7218 → | 599 times |
| וּמָחֲצָ֥ה | umachatzah | and she smashed | H4272 → | |
| וְחָלְפָ֖ה | vechalfah | and she pierced | H2498 → | |
| רַקָּתֽוֹ׃ | rakato | temple his | H7541 → | 5 times |
יָדָהּ֙hand her
yadahH3027 →1618 times
לַיָּתֵ֣דto the peg
laiyatedH3489 →25 times
תִּשְׁלַ֔חְנָהthey stretched out
tishlachnahH7971 →845 times
וִֽימִינָ֖הּand right [hand] her
viminahH3225 →140 times
לְהַלְמ֣וּתto a hammer of
lehalmutH1989 →
עֲמֵלִ֑יםworkmen
ʾamelimH6001 →
וְהָלְמָ֤הand she struck
vehalmahH1986 →
סִֽיסְרָא֙Sisera
sisera'H5516 →21 times
מָחֲקָ֣הshe shattered
machakahH4277 →
רֹאשׁ֔וֹhead his
roshoH7218 →599 times
וּמָחֲצָ֥הand she smashed
umachatzahH4272 →
וְחָלְפָ֖הand she pierced
vechalfahH2498 →
רַקָּתֽוֹ׃temple his
rakatoH7541 →5 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Judges 4:21But as he lay sleeping from exhaustion, Heber’s wife Jael took a tent peg, grabbed a hammer, and went silently to Sisera. She drove the peg through his temple and into the ground, and…
it leads to
- Psalms 3:7
Arise, O LORD! Save me, O my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked.
- Judges 5:26–27
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.
- 1 Corinthians 1:27
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
- Judges 3:21
And Ehud reached with his left hand, pulled the sword from his right thigh, and plunged it into Eglon’s belly.
- Psalms 3:7
Through
2 Samuel 20:22Then the woman went to all the people with her wise counsel, and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri and threw it to Joab. So he blew the ram’s horn…
it leads to
- 2 Samuel 20:1
Now a worthless man named Sheba son of Bichri, a Benjamite, happened to be there, and he blew the ram’s horn and shouted: “We have no share in David, no inheritance in Jesse’s son.…
- Ecclesiastes 7:19
Wisdom makes the wise man stronger than ten rulers in a city.
- Ecclesiastes 9:13–18
I have also seen this wisdom under the sun, and it was great to me:
- 2 Samuel 11:6–21
At this, David sent orders to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent him to David.
- 2 Samuel 20:1
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Judges
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.