Judges 5:31 · Bible study
Judges 5:31 Commentary: Perishing Enemies and Rising Sun
Hebrew · 8 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
How this prayer for enemies to perish connects with covenant love and Christ's call, a study of justice, devotion, and the hope of the sun at full strength.
Research Summary
- Meaning: A prayer that God would destroy His enemies and that His faithful ones would shine with the unstoppable radiance of the rising sun, followed by forty years of peace.
- Key words: 'perish' (אָבַד, jussive mood, expressing a wish); 'those who love him' (אֹהֲבָיו, Qal participle, denoting ongoing covenant loyalty); 'sun' (שֶׁמֶשׁ) and 'strength' (גְּבוּרָה), images of power and brightness.
- Main debate: How to reconcile the imprecatory prayer ('let all your enemies perish') with the New Testament command to love and pray for one's enemies. Traditions differ on whether the reference is to spiritual enemies (sin, death, Satan) or to concrete human opponents, but all agree it is a prayer for God's justice, not personal vengeance.
- Theological theme: Divine justice and covenant love: God actively opposes His enemies and rewards those who love Him with a share in His victorious glory.
- Best use: To give voice to the longing for justice in the face of oppression while grounding that longing in trust in God's ultimate judgment and care for His people.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
So may all Your enemies perish, O LORD! But may those who love You shine like the sun at its brightest.” And the land had rest for forty years.
WEB World English Bible 2000
“So let all your enemies perish, Yahweh, but let those who love him be as the sun when it rises in its strength.” Then the land had rest forty years.
KJV King James Version 1769
So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
So let all thine enemies perish, O Jehovah: But let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
So do all Thine enemies perish, O Jehovah, And those loving Him are As the going out of the sun in its might!' and the land resteth forty years.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
So let all thine enemies perish, Jehovah! But let them that love him be as the rising of the sun in its might. And the land had rest forty years.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
So let all thy enemies perish, O Lord: but let them that love thee shine, as the sun shineth in his rising.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Así perezcan todos tus enemigos, oh Jehová: mas los que le aman, sean como el sol cuando nace en su fuerza. Y la tierra reposó cuarenta años.
Assim pereçam todos os teus inimigos, ó SENHOR: Mas os que lhe amam, sejam como o sol quando nasce em sua força. E a terra repousou quarenta anos.
Périssent ainsi tous tes ennemis, ô Éternel!
Also müssen umkommen, HERR, alle deine Feinde! Die ihn aber liebhaben, müssen sein, wie die Sonne aufgeht in ihrer Macht! -Und das Land war still vierzig Jahre.
Alzo moeten omkomen al Uw vijanden, o HEERE! die Hem daarentegen liefhebben, moeten zijn, als wanneer de zon opgaat in haar kracht. En het land was stil, veertig jaren.
Così periscano tutti i tuoi nemici, o Eterno! E quei che t’amano sian come il sole quando si leva in tutta la sua forza!” Ed il paese ebbe requie per quarant’anni.
Tak niechaj zginą wszyscy nieprzyjaciele twoi, Panie, a ci, którzy ciebie miłują, niech będą jako słońce, gdy wschodzi w mocy swojej. I była w pokoju ziemia przez czterdzieści lat.
Так да погибнут все враги Твои, Господи! Любящие же Его да будут как солнце, восходящее во всей силе своей! - И покоилась земля сорок лет.
耶和華啊，願你的仇敵 都 這樣 滅亡！願愛你的人 如日頭 出現，光輝烈烈！這樣，國 中太平 四十 年。
So may destruction come on all your haters, O Lord; but let your lovers be like the sun going out in his strength. And for forty years the land had peace.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Judges 5:31
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators across traditions agree this verse closes Deborah's song with a prayer that God's enemies would meet the same end as Sisera, a catastrophic overthrow, while those who love God would shine like the rising sun. Barnes calls this 'the spiritual truth which the whole narrative is intended to convey,' linking it to Matthew 13:43 and Daniel 12:3. Cambridge notes that the verse 'takes it for granted that Israel’s enemies are Jehovah’s also,' and Gill reads it not only as a wish but as a prophecy. Keil and Delitzsch treat the image of the sun's rising as 'a striking image of the exaltation of Israel to a more and more glorious unfolding of its destiny.' There is no debate that the prayer is for God's justice, never for personal vengeance. The phrase 'those who love him' strikes commentators as remarkable for its early date, reflecting Deuteronomy's emphasis on covenant love (Exodus 20:6; Deuteronomy 6:5). The final note, 'the land had rest forty years,' is uniformly seen as a redactional formula marking the close of the account.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Imprecatory prayer for divine justice: The jussive verb form and the context of covenant warfare support the view that this is a prayer for God's judgment on those who oppose His covenant people, not a personal curse.
- Eschatological promise of vindication: Barnes and others connect the sun imagery to Daniel 12:3 and Matthew 13:43, suggesting it points to the final shining of the righteous in God's kingdom.
- Prophetic declaration: Gill reads the verse as prophecy: the fate of God's enemies and the glory of His lovers are certainties, not mere wishes.
What is clear: All traditions affirm that this verse calls for God's just action against evil and promises blessing for those who faithfully love Him, trusting God's timing and methods.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Imprecatory prayer and the New Testament | Christians agree this is a prayer for God's justice, not a call for personal vengeance. The enemies are those who oppose God's rule, not simply one's personal foes. | Some Christians see the enemies as spiritual entities (sin, death, the devil) rather than human opponents, while others hold that the prayer legitimately asks for God to judge those who persecute His people, in line with the imprecatory psalms. Both sides point to Jesus' teaching on loving enemies but differ on whether such prayers are to be used in Christian worship. |
| Meaning of 'those who love him' | This phrase refers to covenant loyalty rooted in the Torah, especially Deuteronomy 6:5. It describes a settled, whole-hearted devotion to God. | Some interpreters see this as a description of the faithful in Israel alone; others read it proletically as referring to all believers, including those in the New Covenant, drawing on the mention of the sun in Matthew 13:43. |
| The forty years of rest | All agree this is a concluding narrative formula indicating a period of peace under God's blessing, comparable to Judges 3:11 and 3:30. | There is debate over whether the forty years are meant literally or as a round number, and whether they are to be counted from the beginning of the oppression or from the victory. Gersom and Abarbinel (cited by Gill) argued they include the twenty years of bondage, making the actual peace only twenty years. |
| The sun rising in its strength | The image conveys unstoppable radiance, power, and glory, the faithful will shine like the sun at full strength. | Some see this as a temporal blessing of prosperity and safety in the land; others, following Barnes and the New Testament parallels (Matthew 13:43; Daniel 12:3), interpret it as an eschatological promise of glorification in the kingdom of God. |
Historical & Cultural Context
The song arises from a specific crisis: Israel had been oppressed for twenty years by Jabin, king of Canaan, whose commander Sisera terrorized the land with nine hundred iron chariots (Judges 4:1-3). After Deborah the prophetess and Barak led a successful battle at the Kishon River, Sisera fled and was killed by Jael, a Kenite woman, as described in Judges 4:17-22 and celebrated in the song (vv. 24-27). The song then shifts to the fate of the enemy: the mother of Sisera waits in vain for her son's return, her hopes dashed (vv. 28-30). Against this backdrop, verse 31 functions as a concluding prayer, 'So let all your enemies perish, Yahweh', asking that all future opponents of God meet the same ruin.
The parallel to 'let those who love him be as the sun when it rises in its strength' draws on ancient Near Eastern imagery: the sun, especially at dawn or midday, symbolized invincibility, warmth, and life. In a world where military victory was often credited to a nation's god, this song boldly claims that Israel's deliverance came from Yahweh alone. The forty years of rest that follow are part of a recurring pattern in Judges (cf. 3:11; 3:30; 8:28) where God grants peace after judgment. The rest is not merely political stability; it is a token of covenant blessing for a people who have turned back to their God. This prayer, then, is rooted in the concrete experience of rescue and the hope that such rescue will be the pattern for all who oppose or love the Lord.
Textual Notes
The consulted sources note no significant textual variants for Judges 5:31. The Masoretic Text is stable here. There is some variation in the wording of the prayer across English translations (e.g., the use of 'Lord' or 'Yahweh' for the divine name, and the phrasing of the sun's rising), but these reflect translation choices rather than manuscript differences. The final clause, 'Then the land had rest forty years,' is a standard redactional formula that appears consistently in the tradition (cf. 3:11, 3:30, 8:28).
Reception History
This verse has been read throughout church history as a model of imprecatory prayer and as a foreshadowing of the final vindication of God's people. Early Christian writers often interpreted the 'enemies' as spiritual forces of evil, in line with Ephesians 6:12, while the 'sun' image was connected to the transfigured glory of the righteous at the resurrection (Matthew 13:43). In the medieval and Reformation periods, the verse was used both in hymns celebrating God's victory over sin and in sermons calling for trust in divine justice rather than personal revenge. Modern readers have wrestled with the tension between this prayer and Jesus' command to love enemies, but the consistent application has been to pray for God's will to be done in defeating wickedness while leaving judgment in His hands. The verse remains a favorite in settings that honor the legacy of Deborah and Jael as instruments of God's deliverance.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The end of the enemy: The verb 'perish' (אָבַד, H0006) is a jussive, a prayer, not a command. God's enemies do not simply vanish; they are judged in a way that vindicates His people and His name.
- The rising of the lovers: Those who love God are compared to the sun 'in its strength', a picture of steady, unstoppable radiance. The participle אֹהֲבָיו implies a settled, ongoing devotion.
- The rest that follows: Forty years of rest is both a gift and a promise. God does not leave His people in a permanent state of conflict; He grants seasons of peace.
Five-point outline
- Who are God's enemies? (not personal foes, but those who oppose His covenant rule)
- What does it mean to 'love him'? (covenant loyalty, as in Deuteronomy 6:5)
- How does the sun illustrate the faithful? (visible, powerful, enduring, not hidden or occasional)
- Why does the song end with a prayer? (trusting God to act, not taking vengeance ourselves)
- What does forty years of rest teach us? (God's faithfulness in granting peace after judgment)
Illustration hooks
- A community watches a corrupt regime finally collapse, the relief is sweet, but the prayer for justice is not the same as hatred.
- Someone who has been bullied or oppressed longs to see right prevail. This verse gives voice to that longing without calling for personal revenge.
- The image of the rising sun: think of a marathon runner who crests a hill at dawn and knows the race is nearly done, strength returning, hope renewed.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Is it okay to pray for bad things to happen to people who hurt me? (distinguish between God's justice and my feelings)
- Does the Old Testament's 'love' in this verse match the New Testament's 'love your enemies'? (how do imprecatory psalms fit with Jesus' teaching?)
- What does 'rest' look like in my life today, and is it guaranteed to last forty years? (not literal, but God does give seasons of peace)
Leading a Discussion
This verse sits at the end of a victory song that celebrates God's deliverance through a woman (Deborah) and a foreigner (Jael). The final prayer gives language to both the longing for justice and the hope for the faithful. As a group, work through the questions below to explore how this ancient prayer still speaks.
Discussion questions
- What do you think the original singers felt when they said 'So let all your enemies perish, Yahweh'? Was it anger, relief, faith, or all three?
- In what ways does the image of the sun 'rising in its strength' describe the faithful? How might this encourage someone who feels weak or invisible?
- Read Exodus 20:6 and Deuteronomy 6:5. How does 'those who love him' in Judges 5:31 connect to these earlier commands from the Torah?
- How do we hold together this prayer for God's enemies to perish with Jesus' command to love our enemies? Can both be true in the same faith?
- Gill calls this verse not only a prayer but a 'prophecy.' What can we expect God to do in the face of evil, according to Scripture?
- The land had rest forty years, what does real rest look like for a community of faith today? What threatens that rest?
- If you had to summarize the message of this song in one sentence for someone who has never read it, what would you say?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Exodus 20:6 | and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. |
| Deuteronomy 6:5 | You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. |
| Judges 3:11 | The land had rest forty years, then Othniel the son of Kenaz died. |
| Judges 3:30 | So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. Then the land had rest eighty years. |
| II Samuel 23:4 | shall be as the light of the morning when the sun rises, a morning without clouds, when the tender grass springs out of the earth, through clear shining after rain.’ |
| Psalms 19:4 | Their voice has gone out through all the earth, their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, |
| Psalms 19:5 | which is as a bridegroom coming out of his room, like a strong man rejoicing to run his course. |
| Psalms 37:6 | he will make your righteousness shine out like light, and your justice as the noon day sun. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
8 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes draws a sharp contrast from the story of Sisera: the Lords enemies will end in bitter disappointment, like Sisera's mother waiting in vain. But those who love Christ will shine as brightly as the sun in the Fathers kingdom, a hope he ties directly to other promises in Scripture.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The commentator highlights that the poem’s closing assumes Israel’s enemies are God’s enemies and notes the surprisingly early occurrence of the phrase “them that love him,” which is a distinctive theme in Deuteronomy. The rising sun is an impressive concluding image. A later redactor’s chronological note about the land having rest is also observed.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord: but they that loue him, shall be as the Sunne when he riseth in his might, and the lande had rest fourtie yeres.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill draws attention to the verse's final line about forty years of rest, noting it belongs to the narrator, not Deborah's song. He also questions the common reckoning, explaining that if the count starts from Ehud's death and includes the twenty-year bondage, the actual peace lasted only twenty years.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil and Delitzsch explain that the word "so" in this concluding line refers back to the entire song and the fate of Sisera and his army. For them, the image of the sun rising in its strength pictures Israel being lifted into an ever more glorious unfolding of its destiny, which Deborah saw as the fruit of this victory.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange points out that the song's closing reveals Deborah's distinctively womanly perspective—her triumphant praise of Jael and mockery of Sisera's mother spring from a woman's heart, yet are purified by prophetic enthusiasm for God. This psychological authenticity, for Lange, confirms Deborah as the true author, her ecstasy controlled by divine truth rather than personal passion.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Matthew Henry highlights how Deborah reserves her most elevated poetry for Jael, praising her as a sister-heroine whose brave act finished the war from within a tent. He notes that Deborah had earlier mentioned Jael's willingness to help; now she celebrates her for actually delivering the decisive blow when the opportunity came.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley rejects Matthew Henry's claim that the goodness of God's promised land will intensify the punishment of those who perish. He argues that this reasoning fails under predestination: if some are not elected, they never had a genuine offer, and if all the elect are saved, the grant was never free to the others.