Judges 5:31
So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years.
Study Note
Study Note
The closing benediction of Deborah's Song — 'so let all thine enemies perish, O Lord: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might' — employs solar imagery for the triumphant righteous, drawing on ancient Near Eastern motifs of the sun-god's victory and radiant power over chaos. The antithetical structure (perishing enemies / radiant lovers of God) mirrors the Beatitudes' structure of blessing and curse and the Psalter's frequent contrast between the wicked's fate and the righteous's flourishing. The image of the righteous 'going forth in might' as the sun is applied in Malachi 4:2 to the 'Sun of Righteousness' who rises with healing in his wings, a verse the Christian tradition applied to Christ's resurrection. Daniel 12:3 ('they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament') and Matthew 13:43 ('the righteous shall shine forth as the sun') develop the same solar metaphor for eschatological vindication.
Other Translations
So let all thine enemies perish, O Jehovah: But let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years.
So do all Thine enemies perish, O Jehovah, And those loving Him <FI>are<Fi> As the going out of the sun in its might!' and the land resteth forty years.
So may destruction come on all your haters, O Lord; but let your lovers be like the sun going out in his strength. And for forty years the land had peace.
Cross References
And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all …
And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years.
And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as …
Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them …
Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.
For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together.
They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted away.