The kings of Canaan could do nothing against these powers. They were smitten; the brook Kishon washed them (i.e., their corpses) away. The meaning "to wash away" is well established by the dialects and the context, though the verb itself only occurs here. As the battle was fought between Taanach and Megiddo, i.e., to the south of the brook Kishon, and the smitten foe fled towards the north, many of them met with their death in the waves of the brook, which was flowing over its banks at the time. The brook is called קדוּמים נחל, i.e., the brook of the old world or the olden time (according to the lxx Cod. Vat. χειμάῤῥους ἀρχαίων), as the stream that had been flowing from time immemorial, and not, as the Chaldee interprets it, the stream that had been celebrated from olden time on account of the mighty acts that had been performed there. The meaning suggested by Ewald and others, "brook of attacks, or slaughters," is not well sustained, although קדּם is sometimes used to denote a hostile encounter. The last clause interrupts the description of the slaughter and the victory. Borne away by the might of the acts to be commemorated, Deborah stimulates her soul, i.e., herself, to a vigorous continuation of her song. תּדרכי is jussive, and עז an accusative governed by the verb, in strength, vigorously; for she had still to celebrate the glorious results of the victory. This is done in the third part of the song (Judges 5:22-31), the first strophe of which (Judges 5:22-24) describes in brief drastic traits the flight of the foe, and the treatment of the fugitives by the people of the land.

Judges 5:27 Parallel Commentaries

at Heb. between. where

Psalm 52:7 See, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches...

Matthew 7:2 For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again.

James 2:13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that has showed no mercy; and mercy rejoices against judgment.

dead. Heb. destroyed