Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 5:3
Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, [even] I, will sing unto the LORD; I will sing [praise] to the LORD God of Israel.
3. The great ones of the earth are called upon to attend the praises of the victorious God of Israel. Hear give ear a frequent parallelism, e.g. Gen 4:23; kings princes again in Hab 1:10; Psa 2:2; Pro 8:15; Pro 31:4. The word for princes thus occurs chiefly in the later literature, but it may have belonged to the elevated style in ancient poetry. I, unto Yahweh I will sing; there is a ring about the words in the original, and a strong emphasis on the pronoun. I will make melody, with voice and instruments, a word specially frequent in the Psalter.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
You especially that live near to Israel, and have evil minds and designs against Israel, know this for your instruction, and caution, and terror too, if you shall presume to molest them.
To the Lord God of Israel, who, as you see by this plain instance, is both able and resolved to defend them from all their enemies.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes,…. Not only the neighbouring ones, but all the kings and princes of the earth, far and near, then and in succeeding ages; Deborah desires and wishes that all potentates might hear of the wonderful works of God done for his people, that they might learn to know there is one that is higher than they, to whom all the amazing things done in the world are to be ascribed; and be cautious how they oppressed the people of God, since sooner or later he would avenge them on them. The Targum restrains this to the kings that came with Sisera and the governors with Jabin; but if there were any such, as it is not improbable there were, see Jud 5:19; yet it is most likely that they were slain with them: there are some, as Kimchi observes, who think this respects the people of Israel, who were all the sons of kings; but the first sense is best:
I, [even] I, will sing unto the Lord, I will sing [praise] to the Lord God of Israel: which are the words of Deborah particularly, and the repetitions serve to express how cordial, earnest, and vehement she was in her praise and thankfulness to God; thereby setting an example to others, encouraging them to the same practice, and directing persons of every rank and quality to give praise only to Jehovah, the self-existing, everlasting, and unchangeable Being; to him who is the Lord and God of Israel in a peculiar manner, and not to any of the gods of the Gentiles.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
3 Hear, ye kings; give ear, ye princes!
I, to the Lord will I sing,
Will sing praise to the Lord, the God of Israel.
4 Lord, when Thou wentest out from Seir,
When Thou marchedst out of the fields of Edom,
The earth trembled, and the heavens also dropped;
The clouds also dropped water.
5 The mountains shook before the Lord,
Sinai there before the Lord, the God of Israel.
The “kings and princes” are not the rulers in Israel, for Israel had no kings at that time, but the kings and princes of the heathen nations, as in Psa 2:2. These were to discern the mighty acts of Jehovah in Israel, and learn to fear Jehovah as the almighty God. For the song to be sung applies to Him, the God of Israel. , , is the technical expression for singing with an instrumental accompaniment (see at Exo 15:2).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(3) Hear, O ye kings.There were no kings or princes in Israel, but the appeal is to the kings of the earth, as in Psa. 2:10; for which reason the LXX. render princes by satraps. The Chaldee refers it to the kings allied with Jabin.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Kings princes The kings and princes of the Canaanites (and, indeed, of all the earth) are referred to, not the princes of Israel, for Israel, at this time, had no kings. The prophetess, having opened her song with an exclamation of blessing to Jehovah, now boldly calls on the heathen kings to listen to her strains of triumph, and from them take warning and instruction. Compare Psa 2:10.
I even I will sing That is, I, Deborah; comp. Jdg 5:7. “O kings,” she says, in lofty defiance, “I, even I, a feeble woman, sing a song of triumph over you.”
Will sound the harp The original word rendered “sound the harp,” is the one used for singing with an instrument. She will not only sing, but play with a stringed instrument to the Lord.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“Hear, O you kings,
Give ear, O you princes,
I even I will sing to Yahweh,
I will sing praise to Yahweh, the God of Israel.”
The call now goes out for all princes and kings around, all who can hear, to hear her song, and to learn what Yahweh, the God of Israel, has done, and why she sings His praises. And sing His praises she will because of what He has done.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The sacred song begins with calling upon the great ones of the earth to attend to it. Let impious princes take warning by the fate of Sisera. Let righteous princes never forget by whom they reign, and under whose authority they act. Psa 2:10-12 . There is a great beauty in the humbleness of Deborah’s mind. Here is not a word of merit to herself, but all praise is referred unto the Lord Jehovah. Oh! how sweet it is, when the Lord hath exalted his people to the view of others, that they lay low themselves the more, and exalt him the higher. Isa 2:11 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jdg 5:3 Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, [even] I, will sing unto the LORD; I will sing [praise] to the LORD God of Israel.
Ver. 3. Hear, O ye kings. ] Hear and give ear, be not proud, cast down your crowns, and give glory to God. The altar of incense was compassed about with a crown of pure gold, Lev 3:1-17 to show that gratitude is a rich and royal virtue, best beseeming the best princes.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
I, even I. Figure of speech Epizeuxis. App-6.
God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
O ye kings: Deu 32:1, Deu 32:3, Psa 2:10-12, Psa 49:1, Psa 49:2, Psa 119:46, Psa 138:4, Psa 138:5
even I: Jdg 5:7, Gen 6:17, Gen 9:9, Exo 31:6, Lev 26:28, 1Ki 18:22, 1Ki 19:10, 1Ki 19:14, Ezr 7:21
Reciprocal: Exo 15:21 – Sing ye Exo 35:21 – General Psa 78:1 – General Psa 105:2 – Sing unto Isa 9:3 – and as men Isa 34:1 – Come
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jdg 5:3. Hear, O ye kings, &c. The prophetess begins her song with summoning the attention of the neighbouring kings and princes, that they might understand and lay to heart what God had done for Israel, and learn from thence not to oppress them, lest the same vengeance which had fallen upon Jabin and his people should be inflicted on them. I, even I, will sing unto the Lord She declares that Jehovah should be the object of her praise, who, she would have the world to know, was superior to all in power, and would defend his people while they depended on him alone.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
God’s former salvation 5:3-5
Deborah called all people of consequence to pay attention to the record of God’s sovereignty that follows (cf. Exo 15:18). "Kings" may refer to pagan kings and "rulers" to Israel’s leaders. She compared God’s revelation at Sinai, when He gave the Israelites His covenant, to His intervention for His people in their most recent battle. She pictured God going from Mt. Seir in Edom to Mt. Sinai, where He appeared to the Israelites in great power in a storm and earthquake (cf. Exo 19:18; Deu 33:2). She later spoke of God’s recent deliverance of His people in similar terms (Jdg 5:20-21). The description is poetic. We should not interpret it as literally as a prose narrative.