The summary statement continues here, giving the final outcome. It is hard to tell if 4.24 is presenting a new event in the story (in which case neither the battle with Sisera’s troops nor the execution of Sisera completely wiped out or subdued King Jabin) or whether this is merely an insistence of the defeat. If the latter interpretation is adopted, the Hebrew waw conjunction rendered And can be omitted in the translation. If translators think there are two events, then this conjunction could be rendered “After this.”
The hand of the people of Israel bore harder and harder on Jabin the king of Canaan: The keyword hand, which has occurred many times already in this story (see especially verse 4.21), is used here to refer to the strength and power of the Israelites. For the people of Israel, see verse 1.1. The hand … bore harder and harder on Jabin (literally “the hand … went going and severe/fierce on Jabin”) renders a very emphatic idiomatic clause in Hebrew expressing the increased pressure Israel put on King Jabin. We could say “The Israelites increasingly pressured/pressed Jabin” or “Israel put more and more pressure on Jabin.”
Jabin the king of Canaan refers of course not just to the king but to the king and his people. This phrase is repeated twice in the verse certainly to emphasize the defeat but also to close out the unit (see comments on verse 4.23). However, if the repetition is not acceptable in the target language, it can be reduced.
Until they destroyed Jabin king of Canaan: The pronoun they refers to the Israelites. Destroyed is literally “cut off.” Some versions think this clause means that the Israelites finally managed to kill King Jabin. However, it probably refers more generally to the fact that the Israelites were able to subjugate or completely dominate the population and territories Jabin ruled over.
A translation model for his verse is:
• The Israelites increasingly gained power over Jabin king of Canaan until they utterly destroyed him and his people.
Quoted with permission from Zogbo, Lynell and Ogden, Graham S. A Handbook on Judges. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2019. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .