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Judges 4:22
ESV And behold, as Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael went out to meet him and said to him, "Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking." So he went in to her tent, and there lay Sisera dead, with the tent peg in his temple.
NIV Just then Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. "Come," she said, "I will show you the man you’re looking for." So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple—dead.
NASB And behold, while Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said to him, 'Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.' So he entered with her, and behold, Sisera was lying dead with the tent peg in his temple.
CSB When Barak arrived in pursuit of Sisera, Jael went out to greet him and said to him, "Come and I will show you the man you are looking for." So he went in with her, and there was Sisera lying dead with a tent peg through his temple!
NLT When Barak came looking for Sisera, Jael went out to meet him. She said, 'Come, and I will show you the man you are looking for.' So he followed her into the tent and found Sisera lying there dead, with the tent peg through his temple.
KJV And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come, and I will shew thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples.
NKJV And then, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, I will show you the man whom you seek.” And when he went into her tent, there lay Sisera, dead with the peg in his temple.

What does Judges 4:22 mean?

Sisera, the commander of King Jabin's army, was the only remaining Canaanite survivor from a battle with the Israelites (Judges 4:15–16). The Lord selected a man named Barak to deliver Israel from her oppressors, leading fighting men to victory over Sisera and his forces (Judges 4:4–7). When the battle turned against him, Sisera ran away from his army to the tents of a supposed ally: Heber the Kenite (Judges 4:11, 17). There, Heber's wife, Jael, fed him and covered him to hide from the Israeli troops.

Then, in an unexpected moment, she snuck up on Sisera while he slept and hammered a wooden stake through his skull, killing him (Judges 4:21). Her exact motives are unknown. Her ancestors were friendly to Israel (Judges 1:16). Sisera had a poor reputation for his treatment of women (Judges 5:30). She might have suddenly feared what would happen to her family if Sisera was discovered. For one or all those reasons, she brutally and efficiently slays the Canaanite general.

Now the Israelites arrive, looking for Sisera. They are led by Barak, who likely hopes to capture or kill the enemy commander to seal a glorious victory. Instead of hiding her action, Jael goes out to meet Barak and invites him to see the man he is looking for. Barak enters her tent to find Sisera dead, with his head nailed to the ground.

This exactly fulfills the words of Deborah the prophetess from earlier in the chapter (Judges 4:8–9). Barak would not obey the Lord's command to recruit and lead fighting men against Sisera unless Deborah came along. She agreed but told Barak he would not get the glory for defeating Sisera. Instead, the Lord would make Sisera fall at the hands of a woman.

When the prediction was first given, most readers would assume it meant Deborah, not Barak, would get the glory for defeating Sisera. That is still true, at least in part. Barak wouldn't go without her (Judges 4:8) and she gave the crucial attack order (Judges 4:14). But "glory" for killing the Canaanite general isn't Deborah's, nor Barak's. It now becomes clear that God, speaking through the prophetess Deborah, predicted Jael's slaughter of the general as he slept.
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