Judges 5:7
in Judges 5Life in the villages ceased; it ended in Israel, until I, Deborah, arose, a mother in Israel.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The rulers ceased in Israel, they ceased, Until that I Deborah arose, That I arose a mother in Israel.
KJV
The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.
⋯
This verse in Judges 5
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Render the word “villages” (here and in Jdg 5:11) judgment, rule, or judges, rulers. The sense is “The princes (or magistrates) ceased in Israel,” i. e. there was no one to do justice in the gate, or defend men from their oppressors.
This site's exposition
In the days of Shamgar
on Judges 5:6-8
Shamgar is the man of Judges 3:31 who killed six hundred Philistines with an ox goad, and Jael is named here before the song tells what she did. The conditions given are the ones a trader would notice first, main roads left empty, travellers keeping to side tracks, and the open villages abandoned for walled towns. Verse 8 sets cause beside effect, new gods chosen and then war in the gates, and asks whether a shield or a spear was to be seen among forty thousand, a state of disarmament close to what 1 Samuel 13:19-22 later describes under the Philistines.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Judges 5:7) However, the strong ones in Israel ceased, they paused until Deborah, a mother in Israel, arose. These strong ones are the learned teachers and preachers of the law, who are said to have paused, that is, to not have been present, until she arose to teach Israel through preaching, exhortation, and counsel, and to deliver them from their enemies. Deborah also provokes these strong ones in the previous verses to bless the Lord together with her, saying: 'You who willingly offered your lives for the peril of Israel, bless the Lord!' (Verse 2).
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Ceased - The people forsook all their unfortified towns, not being able to protect them from military insolence. A mother - That is, to be to them as a mother, to instruct, and rule, and protect them, which duties a mother owes to her children.
): Till that I Deborah arose, to restrain and punish those who disturbed the public peace, and protect men in their business, and then the face of things was changed for the better quickly; those beasts of prey retired upon the breaking forth of this joyful light, and man went forth again to his work and labour, Ps. civ.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
The inhabitants of the villages ceased,....
She had been the first wheel in the action, and now is so in the thanksgiving. It was sung on that day, not the very day that the fight was, but on that occasion, and soon after, as soon as a thanksgiving day could conveniently be appointed. When we have received mercy from God, we ought to be speedy in our returns of praise, while the impressions of the mercy are fresh.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
The song proceeds in these verses to describe the sad condition of the country, the oppression of the people, and the origin of all the national distress in the people's apostasy from God. Idolatry was the cause of foreign invasion and internal inability to resist it.
The villages ceased - The people were obliged to live together in fortified places; or in great numbers, to protect each other against the incursions of bands of spoilers.
The words behind it
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| חָדְל֧וּ | chadelu | they ceased | H2308 → | 58 times |
| פְרָז֛וֹן | ferazon | rural people | H6520 → | |
| בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל | beyisrael | in Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| חָדֵ֑לּוּ | chadelu | they ceased | H2308 → | 58 times |
| עַ֤ד | ʾad | until | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| שַׁקַּ֙מְתִּי֙ | shakamti | that I arose | H6965 → | 628 times |
| דְּבוֹרָ֔ה | devorah | Deborah | H1683 → | 10 times |
| שַׁקַּ֥מְתִּי | shakamti | that I arose | H6965 → | 628 times |
| אֵ֖ם | ʾem | a mother | H517 → | 220 times |
| בְּיִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ | beyisrael | in Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
חָדְל֧וּthey ceased
chadeluH2308 →58 times
פְרָז֛וֹןrural people
ferazonH6520 →
בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֖לin Israel
beyisraelH3478 →2507 times
חָדֵ֑לּוּthey ceased
chadeluH2308 →58 times
עַ֤דuntil
ʾadH5704 →1261 times
שַׁקַּ֙מְתִּי֙that I arose
shakamtiH6965 →628 times
דְּבוֹרָ֔הDeborah
devorahH1683 →10 times
שַׁקַּ֥מְתִּיthat I arose
shakamtiH6965 →628 times
אֵ֖םa mother
ʾemH517 →220 times
בְּיִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃in Israel
beyisraelH3478 →2507 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
Isaiah 49:23Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow to you facedown and lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD;…
it leads to
- Isaiah 60:14
The sons of your oppressors will come and bow down to you; all who reviled you will fall facedown at your feet and call you the City of the LORD, Zion of the Holy…
- Isaiah 60:16
You will drink the milk of nations and nurse at the breasts of royalty; you will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
- Isaiah 60:3
Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
- Micah 7:17
They will lick the dust like a snake, like reptiles slithering on the ground. They will crawl from their holes in the presence of the LORD our God; they will tremble in fear of…
- Isaiah 45:14
This is what the LORD says: “The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, along with the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you and will be yours; they will trudge…
- Isaiah 60:14
Through
Esther 9:19This is why the rural Jews, who live in the villages, observe the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day of joy and feasting. It is a holiday for sending gifts…
it leads to
- Esther 8:17
In every province and every city, wherever the king’s edict and decree reached, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many of the people of the land themselves…
- Esther 8:17
Through
2 Samuel 20:19I am among the peaceable and faithful in Israel, but you are trying to destroy a city that is a mother in Israel. Why would you swallow up the LORD’s inheritance?”
it leads to
- 1 Samuel 26:19
Now please, may my lord the king hear the words of his servant: If the LORD has stirred you up against me, then may He accept an offering. But if men have done it,…
- 1 Samuel 26:19
Through
Romans 16:13Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me as well.
it leads to
- 1 Timothy 5:2
older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.
- 1 Timothy 5:2
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Judges
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on the Song of Deborah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.