“Awake,awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, sing a song! Arise, Barak, and lead your captives away, O son of Abinoam!
Parallel translations
- WEB ‘Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, utter a song! Arise, Barak, and lead away your captives, you son of Abinoam.’
- KJV Awake, awake, Deborah: awake, awake, utter a song: arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam.
- BSB ‘Awake, awake, O Deborah! Awake, awake, sing a song! Arise, O Barak, and take hold of your captives, O son of Abinoam!’
- NASB ¶“Awake, awake, Deborah; Awake, awake, sing a song! Arise, Barak, and lead away your captives, son of Abinoam.
- NLT “Wake up, Deborah, wake up! Wake up, wake up, and sing a song! Arise, Barak! Lead your captives away, son of Abinoam!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The song rouses Deborah to sing and Barak to lead away his captives.
Overview
The repeated 'awake' calls the leaders to rise to their God-given roles in praise and triumph. Barak's leading of captives marks the completeness of the victory God granted. The verse stirs God's servants to act boldly in the strength He supplies.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Eph 4:8Therefore he says, “When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.”
- Ps 68:18You have ascended on high. You have led away captives. You have received gifts among men, yes, among the rebellious also, that Yah God might dwell there.
- Ps 57:8Wake up, my glory! Wake up, lute and harp! I will wake up the dawn.
- 2 Tim 2:26and they may recover themselves out of the devil’s snare, having been taken captive by him to his will.
- Eph 5:14Therefore he says, “Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
- 1 Cor 15:34Wake up righteously, and don’t sin, for some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
- Jer 31:26On this I awakened, and saw; and my sleep was sweet to me.
- Isa 52:1–2Awake, awake! Put on your strength, Zion. Put on your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city: for from now on the uncircumcised and the unclean will no more come into you.
- Isa 51:9Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of Yahweh! Awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. Isn’t it you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the monster?
- Isa 49:24–26Shall the plunder be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captives be delivered?
- Isa 33:1Woe to you who destroy, but you weren’t destroyed; and who betray, but nobody betrayed you! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed; and when you have finished betrayal, you will be betrayed.
- Isa 60:1“Arise, shine; for your light has come, and Yahweh’s glory has risen on you.
- Isa 14:2The peoples will take them, and bring them to their place. The house of Israel will possess them in Yahweh’s land for servants and for handmaids. They will take as captives those whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.
- Ps 108:2Wake up, harp and lyre! I will wake up the dawn.
- Isa 51:17Awake, awake! Stand up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk from Yahweh’s hand the cup of his wrath. You have drunken the bowl of the cup of staggering, and drained it.
- Ps 103:1–2By David. Praise Yahweh, my soul! All that is within me, praise his holy name!
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Israel's cycle of sin and rescue through flawed deliverers cries out for a Savior who never fails — the true and final Judge and Deliverer who saves his people not for a season but forever.
How Judges 5:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.