While Sisera runs away on foot, his army also tries to flee. In some languages this implicit information may need to be made explicit, for example, “As Sisera’s army fled, Barak pursued….”

And Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth-ha-goiim: The Hebrew waw conjunction rendered And may be omitted or rendered by another conjunction in the target language. Despite their efforts, the enemy army could not get away. Barak refers obviously to Barak and his warriors, for he did not do this alone. The Hebrew words for Barak pursued are baraq radaf, an apparent play on words, since they seem to rhyme. Pursued the chariots and the army is literally “pursued after the chariots and after the army.” Finally Barak is giving the battle his all. Translators may say “chased after Sisera’s chariots and men,” “ran after…,” or “went after….” For chariots see verse 1.19; for army see verse 4.15. The mention of Harosheth-ha-goiim (Good News Translation “Harosheth-of-the-Gentiles”) makes the point that the enemy is forced back to their starting point (see verse 4.2, verse 13) and also underlines the fact that the enemy soldiers are pagans, that is, they do not believe or follow Yahweh.

And all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword: It is now that all Sisera’s men are killed. In the meantime Sisera has abandoned his troops and is running for his life. All the army refers to both his soldiers riding on the chariots and his foot soldiers. Army renders the same Hebrew word as in the previous clause. Fell by the edge of the sword is a Hebrew idiom meaning these men were massacred. The Hebrew verb rendered fell (nafal) occurs once again, describing the death of the enemy (see verse 3.25; verse 5.27; verse 9.40). In many languages a similar idiom with the verb “fall” may express death. For the edge of the sword, see verse 1.8, where it is noted that this expression can be omitted. If the verb fell cannot be retained, translators could say “and Barak’s troops killed them all” or “Barak and his men killed all of Sisera’s soldiers.” In some languages it will be easier to use a passive expression, for example, “Sisera’s whole army was killed” (Good News Translation).

Not a man was left is literally “not it was left up to one.” The destruction was complete, with no enemy soldier remaining alive. The word man does not occur in Hebrew, but can be added as Revised Standard Version has done. Was left renders a Hebrew word that refers to survivors. This clause may be translated “not even one remained.” It may be possible to combine this with the preceding clause by saying “Every single soldier of Sisera’s army was killed” or “Barak killed every single one of Sisera’s soldiers.” But following the Hebrew closely can also be effective: “Barak killed all Sisera’s soldiers—not one was left” or “Barak killed all Sisera’s soldiers—every single one!”

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 .