Person Old Testament
Deborah
Deborah, a prophetess and judge, led Israel to victory against the Canaanites alongside Barak. Mentioned in 9 verses across 1 book, first at Judges 4:4.
Why it matters. Prophetess and judge who led Israel to victory over Canaanites.
- Primary passages
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team
About Deborah
Deborah was a prophetess and the only female judge mentioned in the Bible. She lived during a time when the Israelites were oppressed by Jabin, the king of Canaan (Jdg.4.4). Deborah held court under a palm tree between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, where the Israelites came to her for judgment (Jdg.4.5).
Deborah summoned Barak, an Israelite warrior, and delivered a message from God instructing him to lead an army against Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army (Jdg.4.6-7). Barak agreed to go only if Deborah accompanied him, to which she consented but prophesied that the honor of the victory would go to a woman (Jdg.4.8-9).
Deborah and Barak led the Israelite army to Mount Tabor, where they defeated Sisera's forces (Jdg.4.10-16). Sisera fled and sought refuge in the tent of Jael, who killed him by driving a tent peg through his temple (Jdg.4.17-22).
After the victory, Deborah and Barak sang a song of praise, recounting the events of the battle and celebrating God's deliverance (Jdg.5.1-31). Deborah's leadership as a prophetess and judge brought 40 years of peace to the land of Israel (Jdg.5.31).
Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.
Connections
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Family
Family links from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0). Where the dataset marks an identification as uncertain, the mark is kept. Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus; see the Lineage page, which never merges them.
- Spouse
- Lappidoth
Appears in Scripture
Named in 9 verses across 1 book. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.