Lectionary Calendar
Saturday, August 2nd, 2025
the Week of Proper 12 / Ordinary 17
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Read the Bible

Literal Standard Version

Judges 5:25

He asked for water—she gave milk; She brought butter near in a lordly dish.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Butter;   Country;   Patriotism;   Sisera;   Thompson Chain Reference - Butter;   Deborah;   Women;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Milk;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Barak;   Butter;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Dish;   Milk;   Sisera;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Butter;   Jael;   Milk;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Curds;   Dish;   Hymn;   Jael;   Judges, Book of;   Kedesh;   Poetry;   Vessels and Utensils;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Barak;   Bowl;   Deborah;   Ephraim;   Hittites;   House;   Israel;   Jael;   Jashar, Book of;   Levi;   Manasseh;   Naphtali;   Poetry;   Simeon;   Sisera;   Text, Versions, and Languages of Ot;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Butter;   Sisera ;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Barak;   Jael;   Pithom;   Sisera;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Baal;   Food;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Butter;   Food;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Butter;   War;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Reign of the Judges;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Bowl;   Dish;   Jael;   Milk;   Relationships, Family;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Bottle;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Deborah, the Song of;   Drinking-Vessels;   Milk;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
He asked for water; she gave him milk.She brought him cream in a majestic bowl.
Hebrew Names Version
He asked water, [and] she gave him milk; She brought him butter in a lordly dish.
King James Version
He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish.
Lexham English Bible
He asked for water, and she gave milk; in a drinking bowl for nobles, she brought curds.
English Standard Version
He asked for water and she gave him milk; she brought him curds in a noble's bowl.
New Century Version
Sisera asked for water, but Jael gave him milk. In a bowl fit for a ruler, she brought him cream.
New English Translation
He asked for water, and she gave him milk; in a bowl fit for a king, she served him curds.
Amplified Bible
"Sisera asked for water and she gave him milk; She brought him curds in a magnificent bowl.
New American Standard Bible
"He asked for water, she gave him milk; In a magnificent bowl she brought him curds.
Geneva Bible (1587)
He asked water, and shee gaue him milke: she brought forth butter in a lordly dish.
Legacy Standard Bible
to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, might, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
Contemporary English Version
Sisera asked for water, but Jael gave him milk— cream in a fancy cup.
Complete Jewish Bible
He asked for water, and she gave him milk; In an elegant bowl she brought him curds.
Darby Translation
He asked water, she gave milk; In the nobles' bowl she brought forth cream.
Easy-to-Read Version
Sisera asked for water. Jael gave him milk. In a bowl fit for a ruler, she brought him cream.
George Lamsa Translation
He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a giant bowl.
Good News Translation
Sisera asked for water, but she gave him milk; she brought him cream in a beautiful bowl.
Literal Translation
He asked for water; she gave him milk; in a lordly bowl she brought curd.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Whan he axed water, she gaue him mylke, & broughte forth butter in a lordly dißshe.
American Standard Version
He asked water, and she gave him milk; She brought him butter in a lordly dish.
Bible in Basic English
His request was for water, she gave him milk; she put butter before him on a fair plate.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
He asked water, and she gaue him mylke, she brought foorth butter in a lordly dysshe.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Water he asked, milk she gave him; in a lordly bowl she brought him curd.
King James Version (1611)
He asked water, and she gaue him milke, shee brought foorth butter in a lordly dish.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
He asked for water, she gave him milk in a dish; she brought butter of princes.
English Revised Version
He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought him butter in a lordly dish.
Berean Standard Bible
He asked for water, and she gave him milk. In a magnificent bowl she brought him curdled milk.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
To Sisara axynge watir sche yaf mylk, and in a viol of princes sche yaf botere.
Young's Literal Translation
Water he asked -- milk she gave; In a lordly dish she brought near butter.
Update Bible Version
He asked water, [and] she gave him milk; She brought him butter in a lordly dish.
Webster's Bible Translation
He asked water, [and] she gave [him] milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish.
World English Bible
He asked water, [and] she gave him milk; She brought him butter in a lordly dish.
New King James Version
He asked for water, she gave milk; She brought out cream in a lordly bowl.
New Living Translation
Sisera asked for water, and she gave him milk. In a bowl fit for nobles, she brought him yogurt.
New Life Bible
Sisera asked for water and she gave him milk. She brought him milk in a fine pot.
New Revised Standard
He asked water and she gave him milk, she brought him curds in a lordly bowl.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Water, he asked, Milk, she gave, - In a bowl for nobles, presented cream:
Douay-Rheims Bible
He asked her water, and she gave him milk, and offered him butter in a dish fit for princes.
Revised Standard Version
He asked water and she gave him milk, she brought him curds in a lordly bowl.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"He asked for water and she gave him milk; In a magnificent bowl she brought him curds.

Contextual Overview

24Above women is Jael, || The wife of Heber the Kenite, || She is blessed above women in the tent. 25He asked for water—she gave milk; She brought butter near in a lordly dish.26She sends forth her hand to the pin, || And her right hand to the laborers' hammer, || And she hammered Sisera—she struck his head, || Indeed, she struck, and it passed through his temple. 27He bowed between her feet—He fell, he lay down; He bowed between her feet, he fell; Where he bowed, there he fell—destroyed. 28She has looked out through the window—Indeed, she cries out—the mother of Sisera, || Through the lattice: Why is his chariot delaying to come? Why have the steps of his chariot tarried? 29The wise ones, her princesses, answer her, || Indeed, she returns her sayings to herself: 30Do they not find? They apportion spoil, || A female—two females—for every head, || Spoil of finger-work for Sisera, || Spoil of embroidered finger-work, || Finger-work—a pair of embroidered things, || For the necks of the spoil! 31So do all Your enemies perish, O YHWH, || And those loving Him [are] || As the going out of the sun in its might!" And the land rests [for] forty years.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

asked: Judges 4:19-21

butter: Chemah, may signify buttermilk, which is made by the Arabs by agitating the milk in a leathern bag; and is highly esteemed because of its refreshing and cooling qualities.

Reciprocal: Genesis 18:8 - he took Deuteronomy 32:14 - Butter

Cross-References

Genesis 4:18
And born to Enoch is Irad; and Irad has begotten Mehujael; and Mehujael has begotten Methusael; and Methusael has begotten Lamech.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

He asked water, and she gave him milk,.... That is, Sisera asked it of her, as the Targum expresses it, when he turned into her tent:

she brought him fresh butter in a lordly dish; which signifies either the same, the milk with cream on it, for that is meant by butter; or having first taken off the cream, she gave him milk to drink, and then brought the cream in a dish for him to eat, and thereby the more incline him to sleep; and this she brought in a dish fit for any lord or nobleman to eat out of; in such a polite and courteous manner did she use him, so that he could have no suspicion of her having any ill design against him. R. Jonah, as Kimchi notes, interprets this of a dish of the mighty or lordly ones, of the shepherds, the principal of the flock, as they are called in Jeremiah 25:34, out of which they had used to drink their milk, or eat their cream, and such an one was likely enough to be Jael's tent; from this Hebrew word "sepel", here used, seems to come the Latin word "simpucium" or "simpulum", used in things sacred, and which, according to Pliny t, was an earthen vessel; and so some of the Rabbins, as Kimchi observes, say, this was a new earthen vial; it is very probable it was a broad platter or dish fit for such an use.

t Nat. Hist. l. 35. c. 12.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Butter - Rather curdled milk, probably a fermented and intoxicating drink. All these marks of respect and friendship would lull Sisera into security.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Judges 5:25. She brought forth butter — As the word חמאה chemah, here translated butter, signifies disturbed, agitated, c., it is probable that buttermilk is intended. The Arabs form their buttermilk by agitating the milk in a leathery bag, and the buttermilk is highly esteemed because of its refreshing and cooling quality but there is no reason why we may not suppose that Jael gave him cream: Sisera was not only thirsty, but was also exhausted with fatigue; and nothing could be better calculated to quench his thirst, and restore his exhausted strength, than a bowl of cream. I am surprised that Mr. Harmer should see any difficulty in this. It is evident that Deborah wishes to convey the idea that Jael was more liberal and kind than Sisera had requested. He asked for water, and she brought him cream; and she brought it to him, not in an ordinary pitcher, but in the most superb dish or bowl which she possessed. See at the end of Judges 4:24.


 
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