The parallel lines of this verse describe a cosmic battle in which Yahweh used the stars to fight against Sisera’s army, the enemy of Israel.

From heaven fought the stars renders the Hebrew literally, except that in Hebrew the word for heaven is plural (see verse 5.4). We might say “The stars fought from the sky” (Good News Translation) or “High in the sky, the stars fought.” Several versions combine the words heaven and stars, saying “The stars in the sky fought.” However, this rendering removes the impressive parallelism of the verse:

From the skies fought the stars,
from their courses they fought against Sisera.

Fought renders the same Hebrew verb as in the previous verse. If possible, translators should use the same verb in both verses. An expression such as “waged battle” is one possibility. It is perhaps odd to think of the stars fighting Israel’s enemy. However, in the Canaanite world-view and in many cultures still today, the position and movement of the stars directly affects nature, for example, the arrival of storms and rain. Stars are heavenly bodies in the sky and all languages will have some way of expressing this natural phenomenon. Translators are strongly encouraged to imitate the poetic language here, even if the meaning and images seem unusual. The poet shows creation coming to assist Israel in its fight against the Canaanites (see also verse 5.21). New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh renders this line as “The stars fought from heaven.” In some languages the verb fought will need an object, which is made clear in the following line. We might say “From the sky the stars fought Sisera.”

From their courses they fought against Sisera: This line is parallel to the preceding one, indicating the position of the stars, but going on to name the enemy explicitly. The Hebrew word for courses normally refers to open public roads or highways, as opposed to streets in a town or city. However, here it refers to the paths the stars follow across the sky. In English these are “orbits” (New Jerusalem Bible), but we can speak poetically of “the paths of the stars,” “their roads,” or “their ways.” We could express the same idea by using a verb, saying “as they passed through the sky” or “as they traveled/moved across the sky.” For fought see comments on the preceding line.

Against Sisera specifies whom the fight is against. This is the first time Sisera is mentioned in the song and he is not identified in any special way here (see verse 4.2). This is typical of songs and poetry in many languages. If this short reference causes difficulty, he could be called “Commander Sisera” or “General Sisera” at this first mention of his name. The Hebrew preposition for against (ʿim) usually means “with,” but in many languages one fights against rather than “with” an enemy.

A possible model for this verse is:

• From high in the sky, the stars fought too.
From their pathways, they fought Sisera.

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 .