DEBBORA (Heb. Dēbhōrāh «bee»; LXX Δεββόρζ; Vulg. Debora). - Prophetess, heroine and poetess, third along with Barak among the "Judges" of Israel (Judg. 4:1-5:31), who delivered them from the oppression of Jabin, king of Hazor (Ḥāṭōr, near the lake of Ḥūleh, according to the various biblical data and Flavius Josephus, Antiq. Jud., IX, 11, 1), inspiring the enterprise of Barak and the northern tribes in the battle of Taanach (near Megiddo in the plain of Esdraelon), and then celebrating its deeds with her canticle (Judg. 5:1-31), one of the most precious biblical documents.
D., wife of Lapidoth (not mentioned elsewhere), dwelt between Ramah and Bethel, north of Jerusalem, in the territory of the tribe of Ephraim. Because of the prophetic authority she enjoyed, Israel flocked to her, under "her palm" which had become famous, to obtain her oracles. A witness to the oppression weighing upon the northern tribes — Naphtali, Zebulun, Issachar, and the half-tribe of Manasseh beyond the Jordan (Machir) — she stirred up the uprising, ordering Barak of the tribe of Naphtali to concentrate 10,000 men, chiefly of Naphtali and Zebulun, on Tabor, and she too hastened there. Others willing from Machir, Issachar, Ephraim and Benjamin joined them, amid the indolent or forced absence of the remaining tribes. To meet the threat, Sisera, commander of Jabin's southern forces, drew up on the torrent Kishon, which crosses the plain of Esdraelon, proud of his 900 chariots with iron scythes. But the impetuous charge of the Israelites, animated by D. and Barak, and a providential storm that swelled the torrent, swept him into complete rout. Sisera fled southward and, exhausted, took refuge near Kedesh (of Esdraelon, probably the present-day Tell Abū Qudéj) as a guest in the tent of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite. But Jael, while he slept, drove a hammer and a tent peg through his temple, pinning him to the ground.
At the celebratory feast after the victory, as she watched with Barak the triumphal procession of the victors, D. intoned her famous canticle (Judg. 5:1-31), a solemn epinicion and religious hymn, whose literary splendor is unanimously proclaimed. Analysis of the text allows its structure to be reconstructed in seven sections, each of two strophes, except the central one of three, all identical to that of the theophany (ibid. 4-5).
1. Proem: a) lyrical protasis, b) epic protasis. 2. The misery of Israel: a) sorrowful evocation, b) prophetic explanation. 3. Description of the triumphal procession: a) invitation to the people, b) invitation to the leaders. 4. Praise and reproach to the tribes: a) greeting to the first combatants, b) reproach to Reuben, c) reproaches and praises to the others. 5. Evocation of the battle: a) the assault of the enemies, b) the full rout.
6. The deed of Jael: a) the scene of the tent, b) the death
of Sisera. 7. Enemy dismay and triumph of Yahweh: a) the
waiting of Sisera's mother, b) the disappointment and final hymn.
The canticle of D. is of recognized importance as a very ancient historical source, which also holds for the documentary question of its comparison with the prose narrative of Judg. 4:1-24. The only discrepancy between the enemy commanders — Sisera in the canticle, Jabin king of Hazor in the prose — can be explained by the rebuilding of Hazor, already alluded to in the times of Joshua (cf. Josh. 11:1-13 with 19:36), as is evident later in the times of Solomon (1 Kings 9:15), of Tiglath-Pileser (2 Kings 15:29), of Tobit (Tob. Gk. 1:2) and of the Maccabees (1 Macc. 11:67; there Νααώρ by dittography of the preceding final v), as well as by the homonymies customary in series of kings and by the strategic character of Sisera's commission. Another explanation lies in the contribution of independent data of tradition (cf. Ps. 83:10), foreign to the lyrical scope of the poem.
Two other biblical women of the same name are: D. (Septuagint: Δεβόρρχ) nurse of Rebecca, who follows the wife of Isaac into Canaan sharing her fortunes (Gen. 24:59; cf. 35:8); D. (Septuagint: Δεββωρδ) paternal grandmother of Tobit (Tob. Gk. 1:8).