Deborah 397997 223833297 2008-07-06T01:30:49Z Summer Song 93710 {{Otheruses|Deborah (disambiguation)}} {| align="right" | [[Image:Barak devorah.jpg|thumb|float:right|250px|Grave near [[Tel Kadesh]] attributed to Barak or Deborah]] |} {{Book of Judges}} '''Deborah''' or ({{Hebrew Name|דְּבוֹרָה||Dəḇôrāh|"[[Bee]]"}}) was a prophetess and the fourth Judge and only female Judge of pre-monarchic [[Israel]] in the [[Old Testament]] ([[Tanakh]]). Her story is told twice in chapters 4 and 5 of [[Book of Judges|Judges]]. The first account is [[prose]], relating the victory of Israelite forces led by General [[Barak]], whom Deborah called forth but prophesied would not achieve the final victory over the [[Canaan]]ite general [[Sisera]] himself. That honor went to [[Jael]], the wife of [[Heber (Judges)|Heber]], a [[Kenite]] tentmaker. Jael killed Sisera by driving a tent [[peg]] through his [[Temple (anatomy)|temple]] as he slept. ''Judges'' 5 gives this same story in [[poetry|poetic form]]. This passage, often called ''The [[Song]] of Deborah'' may date to as early as the [[8th century BC]], which would make it one of the oldest passages of the Bible and the earliest extant sample of [[Hebrew poetry]]. Two dates are given in the text, 28:30 and 28:31, the first pointing to the fall of [[Ephraim]] (722 BCE), the other to a time near the beginning of the [[royal house of Israel]]. It is also significant because it is one of the oldest passages that portrays [[Timeline of women in ancient warfare|fighting women]]. The poem may have been included in the ''[[Book of the Wars of the Lord]]'' mentioned in [[Book of Numbers|Numbers]] 21:14. [[Image:Deborah.jpg|thumb|left|200px|[[Gustave Dore]]'s interpretation of the prophetess Deborah]] Little is known about Deborah's personal life. In the [[Book of Judges]], it was stated that she is the wife of Lappidoth (meaning "torches"). But since this name is not found outside of the [[Book of Judges]], it might simply mean that Deborah herself was a "fiery" spirit. She was a poet and she rendered her judgments beneath a [[palm tree]] between [[Ramah]] and [[Bethel]] in the land of [[Benjamin]]. Some people today refer to her as the mother of [[Ancient Israel|Israel]] because of what Deborah said of herself in Judges 5:7, "until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel," After her victory over Sisera and the Canaanite army, there was peace in the land for forty years. == See also == *[[Biblical judges]] *[[Book of Judges]] *[[List of women warriors in folklore, literature, and popular culture]] *[[Animal names as first names in Hebrew]] *[[Jael]] ==External links== {{wikisourcepar|Bible, English, King James, Judges#Chapter 4}} *[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=689&letter=J&search=Judges Book of Judges article] (Jewish Encyclopedia) *[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04663a.htm Debbora] - Catholic Encyclopedia article *[http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb.htm Biblical Hebrew Poetry - Reconstructing the Original Oral, Aural and Visual Experience] *[http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb.htm#Deborah Song of Deborah (Judges 5) Reconstructed] {{Prophets of the Tanakh}} <!-- Don't need head category [[:Category:Prophets in Judaism]] or [[Category:Prophets in Christianity]], both hold sub-cat [[:category:Prophets of the Hebrew Bible]] which is in the template {{Prophets of the Tanakh}} --> [[Category:Biblical women in ancient warfare]] [[Category:Given names]] [[ca:Dèbora]] [[de:Debora (Richterin)]] [[es:Débora]] [[fa:دبوره]] [[fr:Débora]] [[id:Debora]] [[it:Debora (Bibbia)]] [[he:דבורה הנביאה]] [[nl:Debora (persoon)]] [[ja:デボラ]] [[no:Debora]] [[nn:Profeten Debora]] [[pl:Debora (postać biblijna)]] [[pt:Débora (juíza)]] [[ru:Девора]] [[sh:Deborah]] [[fi:Debora]]