In order to be quite sure, Sisera entreated his hostess to stand before the door and turn any one away who might come to her to seek for one of the fugitives. עמד is the imperative for עמדי rof , as the syntax proves that the word cannot be an infinitive. The anomaly apparent in the use of the gender may be accounted for on the ground that the masculine was the more general form, and might therefore be used for the more definite feminine. There are not sufficient grounds for altering it into עמוד, the inf. abs. Whether Jael complied with this wish is not stated; but in the place of anything further, the chief fact alone is given in Judges 4:21, namely, that Jael took a tent-plug, and went with a hammer in her hand to Sisera, who had fallen through exhaustion into a deep sleep, and drove the plug into his temples, so that it penetrated into the earth, or the floor. The words ויּעף והוּא־נרדּם are introduced as explanatory of the course of the events: "but he was fallen into a deep sleep, and exhausted," i.e., had fallen fast asleep through exhaustion. "And so he died." ויּמת is attached as a consequence to וגו התּצנח ... ותּתקע, whereas ויּעף belongs to the parenthetical clause נרדּם והוּא. This is the explanation adopted by Rosenmller, and also in the remark of Kimchi: "the words ויּעף נרדּם indicate the reason why Sisera neither heard Jael approach him, nor was conscious of the blow inflicted upon him." For the combination of ויּעף with ויּמת, "then he became exhausted and died," which Stud. and Bertheau support, does not give any intelligible thought at all. A man who has a tent-peg driven with a hammer into his temples, so that the peg passes through his head into the ground, does not become exhausted before he dies, but dies instantaneously. And ויּעף, from עוּף, equivalent to עיף (Jeremiah 4:31), or יעף, and written with Patach in the last syllable, to distinguish it from עוּף, volare, has no other meaning than to be exhausted, in any of the passages in which it occurs (see 1 Samuel 14:28, 1 Samuel 14:31; 2 Samuel 21:15). The rendering adopted by the lxx, ἐσκοτώθη, cannot be grammatically sustained.

Judges 5:3 Parallel Commentaries

o ye kings

Deuteronomy 32:1,3 Give ear, O you heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth...

Psalm 2:10-12 Be wise now therefore, O you kings: be instructed, you judges of the earth...

Psalm 49:1,2 Hear this, all you people; give ear, all you inhabitants of the world...

Psalm 119:46 I will speak of your testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed.

Psalm 138:4,5 All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O LORD, when they hear the words of your mouth...

I, even I

Judges 5:7 The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.

Genesis 6:17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters on the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life...

Genesis 9:9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;

Exodus 31:6 And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan...

Leviticus 26:28 Then I will walk contrary to you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.

1 Kings 18:22 Then said Elijah to the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the LORD; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men.

1 Kings 19:10,14 And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant...

Ezra 7:21 And I, even I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers which are beyond the river, that whatever Ezra the priest...