This verse continues on with the colorful description of the battle. Its repetitive style resembles the style in the previous three verses. The link of this verse to 5.19-21 is clear, but it is not so easy to determine what actually is happening here. Sisera’s army has just been drowned in the storm that flooded the Kishon River, so whose horses are galloping away? Again, translators should recognize that songs (and other poetic texts) take great liberty with chronological facts. Despite the battle cry at the end of 5.21, some take this verse to refer to the sound of Sisera’s horse galloping away as he flees. The singular form of the Hebrew word for horses may lend weight to this interpretation.

Then loud beat the horses’ hoofs is literally “Then hammered the heels of the horse.” The loud galloping of the horses is perhaps meant to evoke the battle and its aftermath, with a focus on movement and sound. This line begins with the same Hebrew conjunction for Then (ʾaz) found in verse 5.19. Many versions retain this conjunction, but in this poetic context, some translators may prefer to omit it (Contemporary English Version).

There seems to be a deliberate play on words with the Hebrew verb rendered loud beat, since it is the same one used for Jael’s hammering Sisera to death (see verse 5.26, where it is translated “struck … a blow”). The pounding of horses’ hoofs on the ground seems prophetic of this army general’s ultimate fate. Many versions use descriptive words to translate loud beat. For example, New International Version says “thundered,” New American Bible has “pounded,” and Good News Translation uses “stamping.” However, if possible, it will be good to preserve the wordplay here with 5.26. If the verb “hammer” exists in the target language, this word can be used here to anticipate the word in verse 5.26, for example, “Then hammered the hoofs of his horses” (Revised English Bible). Revised English Bible adds to its poetic rendering by using alliteration, that is, by using four different words that begin with the sound “h.” In many languages, including Hebrew and English, word order can undergo great changes in poetic lines.

Horses probably refers to the horses pulling Sisera’s chariot. In Hebrew the word for horses is singular. However, some scholars suggest the Hebrew letter m at the beginning of the following word really belongs at the end of this word, giving a plural. Whatever the case, virtually all versions use a plural here. Many cultures are not familiar with horses, but will at least have a borrowed word for them. Hoofs refers to the feet of the horses, which pound the ground as they run and make a loud noise. Good News Translation omits this word, referring only to the horses, but this weakens the poetic effect of the pounding of the horses’ hoofs.

With the galloping, galloping of his steeds: This line presents some problems. The Hebrew preposition m- rendered with can also mean “from.” However, if this preposition is attached to horses as its plural ending, then there would be no opening preposition. Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, and New International Version are some of the versions that omit this preposition.

Galloping, galloping is the repetitive description of the horses’ pounding on the ground, as they flee from the battle. The Hebrew root rendered galloping often means “rushing” or “dashing [furiously].” In Nahum 3.2 it is used to refer to the racing of chariots. The Hebrew words rendered galloping, galloping (daharoth daharoth) are onomatopoeic. They imitate the sound of the pounding horses’ hoofs. If horses are not well known, in many languages ideophones can be used to express this sound.

His steeds seems to identify the horses as belonging to Sisera. Contemporary English Version renders the pronoun his as “Sisera’s,” while Good News Translation and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh omit it. The Hebrew word for steeds can refer to any strong animal, but here it is parallel to and intensifies the word horses. It can be rendered with a synonym, such as “stallions.” Revised English Bible calls them “chargers.” If no such word exists, translators can qualify the word horses by saying “mighty horses.”

Contemporary English Version gives a dynamic rendering of this verse, saying:

Sisera’s horses galloped off,
their hoofs thundering
in retreat.

Other possible models are:

• “Then the horses’ hoofs hammered the ground.
Sisera’s stallions fled,
galloping, galloping away.

• The hoofs of the horses hammered the ground,
the mighty horses galloped, galloped, galloped away.

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 .