What Does Judges 5:1 Mean in the King James?

Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying,

Judges 5:1 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

The verse makes remembrance a shared sound: the day becomes something two voices can carry together.

THE MEANING

Deborah and Barak make the day speakable in a song they voice together. The reader encounters a turning point that can move beyond a private moment and become a shared voice, carried by more than one person.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

A decisive moment belongs to one person’s voice alone; here Deborah sings with Barak, and the response is shared.

THE ROOT

וַתָּשַׁר

vat-tashar

GROWS FROM

שיר

Shir: to sing, make or voice a song.

The root ⁨שיר⁩ (shir, to sing or make a song) holds the act of singing beside the song itself. The verse’s ⁨וַתָּשַׁר⁩ (vat-tashar, “and she sang”) grows from the same root as ⁨שִׁיר⁩ (shir, “song”) and ⁨שִׁירָה⁩ (shirah, “song, poem”): what happens becomes something a community can voice and carry.

ALSO GROWS

shir: Song

שִׁיר

The noun shares the root ⁨שיר⁩ with the act of singing, joining the voice to what it makes.

shirah: Song, poem

שִׁירָה

This form names a shaped song, showing how an event can become words people return to and share.

THE PATTERN

A shared song gives a community a voice for what it receives and remembers.

O sing unto the LORD a new song: sing unto the LORD, all the earth.

Psalm 96:1 · KJVThe song expands from a voice to “all the earth,” making its shared reach part of the verse.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Colossians 3:16 · KJVSong becomes something people share with one another, carrying words through a community.

THE THREAD

Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

Exodus 15:1 · KJV

Both verses join a decisive day to a shared song: Judges gives the voice to Deborah and Barak, while Exodus gives it to Moses and Israel. The same Hebrew root ⁨שיר⁩ names singing and song, making a moment into a voice people can carry together.

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