Life in the villages ceased; it ended in Israel, until I, Deborah, arose, a mother in Israel.
Parallel translations
- WEB The rulers ceased in Israel. They ceased until I, Deborah, arose; Until 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.
- NKJV Village life ceased, it ceased in Israel, Until I, Deborah, arose, Arose a mother in Israel.
- NASB “The peasantry came to an end, they came to an end in Israel, Until I, Deborah, arose, Until I arose, a mother in Israel.
- NLT There were few people left in the villages of Israel— until Deborah arose as a mother for Israel.
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
Village life had failed until Deborah arose as a mother in Israel.
Overview
Deborah describes herself as a 'mother in Israel,' a nurturing, protective leader raised up by God. Her emergence reversed the collapse of ordered life under oppression. The image celebrates God's provision of leadership to restore and care for His struggling people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Isa 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; those who hope in Me will never be put to shame.”
- 2 Sam 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?”
- Rom 16:13Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me as well.
- Judg 4:4–6Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.
- Esth 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 to one another.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 5:7 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.