For information on the nurse of Rebeccah, mentioned in Genesis, see Deborah (Genesis)

Deborah or Dvora (דְּבוֹרָה "Bee", Standard Hebrew Dəvora, Tiberian Hebrew Dəḇôrāh) 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 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 Canaanite general Sisera himself. That honor went to Jael, the wife of Heber, a Kenite tentmaker. Jael killed Sisera by driving a tent peg through his head as he slept.

Judges 5 gives this same story in poetic form, and it is thought to have been composed in the second half of the 12th century BC, shortly after the events it describes. If that is the case, then this passage, often called The Song of Deborah, is one of the oldest passages of the Bible and the earliest extant sample of Hebrew poetry. It is also significant because it is one of the, if not the, earliest passages that portrays women in other roles than as victims or as villains. The poem may have been included in the Book of the Wars of the Lord mentioned in Numbers 21:14.

Little is known about Deborah's personal life. She was apparently married to a man named Lapidoth (meaning "torches"), but this name is not extant outside of the Book of Judges and might simply mean that Deborah herself was a "fiery" spirit. She was a poet and she rendered her judgments beneath a palm tree in Ephraim. Some people refer to her as the mother of Israel. After her victory over Sisera and the Canaanite army, there was peace in the land for forty years.

External links

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• Book of Judges article (Jewish Encyclopedia)
• The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran (Chronology for Israel's Period of the Judges 1412 BCE to 1039 BCE)
• Debbora - Catholic Encyclopedia article

Women in ancient warfare | Given names

Debora (Prophetin) | Débora | דבורה (דמות תנ"כית) | Debora | Debora