Judges 5:27

Jdg 5:27 At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down: at her feet he bowed, he fell: where he bowed, there he fell down dead.

Ver. 27. At her feet he bowed, he fell.] He was soon despatched, and could never tell who hurt him. There now lies the greatness of Sisera: he that had vaunted of his iron chariots, is slain by a woman with one nail of iron.

There he fell down dead.] Heb., Destroyed; dead as a door nail, as we say, ταλαιπωρος, miserable, as the Septuagint renders it. Thrice he essayed to rise, but bowed down thrice, and fell again. So did a better man than he, Huldericus Zuinglius, when slain in battle; but he could say what Sisera could not, Age, corpus quidem occidere possunt, animum non possunt. Well, the enemies may kill my body, but cannot come at my soul. {a}

{a} Scultet, Annal., p. 348.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jdg 5:27. At her feet he bowed, &c. — This verse is considered by many as a description of the struggles of Sisera after he was wounded; but perhaps it may only be a relation of his lying down to sleep quite spent with fatigue, from which he never rose again. For it is expressly said, (Jdg 4:21,) that Jael smote the nail quite through his temples, so as to fasten him to the ground; from whence there is great reason to conclude that the blow was instantaneously fatal, and that he never struggled nor stirred. This verse is thus translated by Dr. Kennicott:

At her feet he bowed, he fell! At her feet he bowed, he fell!

Where he bowed, there he fell dead.

And he supposes, naturally enough, the first line to be sung by Deborah, the second by Barak, and that they both joined in singing the third. The whole verse is greatly expressive of the joy of Deborah on this occasion, and shows, in a strong light, her love for her country and people. She dwells on every circumstance with seeming pleasure; she repeats them, as it were, to enjoy the idea and contemplation of them the longer. And one would think all the enemies of Israel had perished in this one man.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hebrew, destroyed.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 27. At her feet he bowed] בין רגליה bein ragleyha, "between her feet." After having stunned him she probably sat down, for the greater convenience of driving the nail through his temples.

He bowed - he fell] He probably made some struggles after he received the blow on the head, but could not recover his feet.

AEschylus represents Agamemnon rising, staggering, and finally falling, under the blows of Clytemnestra. - Agam. v. 1384.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(27) At her feet.—Literally, between her feet, as though the dauntless woman had stridden over him as he lay in the dead sleep of weariness.

He bowed.—The word means that he suddenly curled up his knees in one contortion of agony.

He fell.—Rolling, perhaps, off the divan on which he was resting.

He lay down.—Motionless in death, after that one convulsive movement.

Dead.—Rather, slaughtered, or murdered. With this one terrific word the scene ends, as with a blow.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

27. The effect of the blow, vividly depicted in short, abrupt words; from a standing position his body collapsed; lit. ‘he dropped on his knees, fell headlong, and lay a broken wreck upon the ground.’ For he bowed cf. Jdg_7:5-6, Isa_46:1; he fell cf. 1Sa_28:20; he lay cf. Lam_2:21; dead lit. ‘destroyed,’ ‘spoiled,’ cf. Jer_4:30, Isa_33:1.

The second line, at her feet he bowed, he fell is probably an erroneous repetition from the first.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Perhaps at her first approach to him, and attempt to drive the nail, or at the blow she gave, he rose up, but she had done the business so effectually at the first stroke, that he dropped at once, and laid down his head again:

at her feet he bowed, he fell; when she redoubled her blow:

where he bowed, there he fell down dead; and struggled and stirred no more; thus ingloriously did this general of a vast army die. This action is not otherwise to be justified, but by its being done through an impulse of the Spirit of God upon her, to take away the life of an implacable enemy of God's people; otherwise it might seem to be a breach of hospitality towards her guest she had invited in, and of the peace which subsisted between this general's prince and her husband; and therefore is not to be drawn into an example where there is no appearance of a divine warrant.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Wretched. Hebrew, "he expired where he fell down." (Haydock) --- Debbora represents Jahel as ready to tread the unhappy Sisara under her feet, if he should offer to stir. She thrice repeats his death.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Here is a lively representation of the thing done. At the first blow or wound he was awakened, and made some attempt to rise; but being astonished and very weak, she also following her first blow with others, he found himself impotent, and fell down dead; and then she struck the nail quite through his head into the ground, as is said, Jdg 4:21.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

27. He sunk down, he fell — The reference is doubtless to the supposed convulsion in which he rolled off from the low divan and fell to the floor. See note on Jdg_4:21.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Between her feet he sank, he lay: Such is the custom of the language to repeat the words in order to strengthen them. And the content is that he sank a sinking, from which there would be no getting up. And that is what is stated, "where he sank, there he lay - destroyed." And there is a homiletical teaching about it - though it is distant - that between [all the mentions of] sank, lay and fell, there are seven. So they said that that wicked man had sexual intercourse with Yael seven times on that day. But what they wrote above (Judges 4:18) about the word, "semikhah (blanket)," contradicts this teaching.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.