Passage

Judges 5.23

Book: Judges · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"21. The river Kishon swept them away, That ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, march on with strength. 22. Then did the horsehoofs stamp By reason of the prancings, the prancings of their strong ones."

"23. Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of Jehovah. Curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof, Because they came not to the help of Jehovah, To the help of Jehovah against the mighty."

"24. Blessed above women shall Jael be, The wife of Heber the Kenite; Blessed shall she be above women in the tent. 25. He asked water, and she gave him milk; She brought him butter in a lordly dish." (Judges 5:21-25, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"21. The river Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. My soul, march on with strength. 22. Then the horse hoofs stamped because of the prancing, the prancing of their strong ones."

"23. ‘Curse Meroz,’ said Yahweh’s angel. ‘Curse bitterly its inhabitants, because they didn’t come to help Yahweh, to help Yahweh against the mighty.’"

"24. “Jael shall be blessed above women, the wife of Heber the Kenite; blessed shall she be above women in the tent. 25. He asked for water. She gave him milk. She brought him butter in a lordly dish." (Judges 5:21-25, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"21. The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength. 22. Then were the horsehoofs broken by the means of the pransings, the pransings of their mighty ones. ^{pransings: or, tramplings, or, plungings}"

"23. Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty."

"24. Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent. 25. He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish." (Judges 5:21-25, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"21. The brook Kishon swept them away, The brook most ancient, the brook Kishon. Thou dost tread down strength, O my soul! 22. Then broken were the horse-heels, By pransings, pransings of its mighty ones."

"23. Curse Meroz, said a messenger of Jehovah, Cursing, curse ye its inhabitants, For they came not to the help of Jehovah, To the help of Jehovah among the mighty!"

"24. Blessed above women is Jael, Wife of Heber the Kenite, Above women in the tent she is blessed. 25. Water he asked, milk she gave; In a lordly dish she brought near butter." (Judges 5:21-25, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: narrator (anonymous; possibly Samuel-period)
Audience: early-monarchy or pre-monarchy Israel
Location: Canaan (decentralized tribal period)
Time period: events c. 1380-1050 BC; composed c. 1050-1000 BC

Theological reading

Key words

H3068 - YHWH, YHWH (Strong's H3068). Also appears in: Genesis 2.4, Genesis 2.7, Genesis 2.16-17.

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.