Judges 5 is one of the oldest songs in Scripture, a victory poem packed with names, places, and precise detail that rewards close reading. This quiz pulls 22 questions straight from the chapter, testing how carefully you followed the song.
Each question gives you five answer choices, so you can see exactly what you can remember and what you can not. Take your time let’s see how well you know Judges 5.
Before you begin:
- The Book of Judges Summary by Chapter: A chapter-by-chapter overview that sets this song in the flow of the whole book.
- Bible Quiz on Judges Chapter 1-21: A whole-book Judges quiz to take once you have tested this chapter.
Judges 5 Quiz Questions and Answers
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Answer 1: C: The curse on Meroz came from the angel of the LORD, who called for the inhabitants to be cursed bitterly because they refused to help. Deborah speaks much of the song, but this curse is attributed to the angel, not to her.
KJV Reference: Judges 5:23 (KJV): “Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.”
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Answer 2: A: When the villages had ceased, Deborah arose and the song calls her a mother in Israel. Though she judged Israel elsewhere, this verse names her a mother, the title that captures her rising to nurse and rally the nation.
KJV Reference: Judges 5:7 (KJV): “The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.”
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Answer 3: E: The song repeats that at Jael’s feet Sisera bowed, fell, and lay down dead. The tent is where the deed was done, but the song fixes the place of his death at her feet, not merely within the tent.
KJV Reference: Judges 5:27 (KJV): “At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down: at her feet he bowed, he fell: where he bowed, there he fell down dead.”
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Answer 4: B: Zebulun is named as the tribe that handled the pen of the writer in the muster of the tribes. Ephraim and Benjamin appear in the same passage, but the writer’s pen is assigned to Zebulun.
KJV Reference: Judges 5:14 (KJV): “Out of Ephraim was there a root of them against Amalek; after thee, Benjamin, among thy people; out of Machir came down governors, and out of Zebulun they that handle the pen of the writer.”
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Answer 5: A: The kings of Canaan fought at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo and took no gain of money. The river Kishon belongs to the next scene, where it swept the defeated army away, so it marks the rout rather than the place of battle.
KJV Reference: Judges 5:19 (KJV): “The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo; they took no gain of money.”
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Answer 6: C: The song opens by naming Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam as the singers on the day of triumph. Jael is honoured later in the song for killing Sisera, but she is not named among the singers.
KJV Reference: Judges 5:1 (KJV): “Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying,”
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Answer 7: E: The song rebukes Dan for remaining in ships while others fought. Asher is the tribe that continued on the sea shore, so that option belongs to a different tribe in the same verse.
KJV Reference: Judges 5:17 (KJV): “Gilead abode beyond Jordan: and why did Dan remain in ships? Asher continued on the sea shore, and abode in his breaches.”
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Answer 8: D: The song closes by noting that the land had rest forty years. The number forty also appears earlier in the forty thousand of verse 8, but the rest of the land is measured in forty years.
KJV Reference: Judges 5:31 (KJV): “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.”
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Answer 9: B: Sisera asked for water, but Jael gave him milk and brought butter in a lordly dish. Water is what he requested, yet the song stresses that she gave him something richer instead.
KJV Reference: Judges 5:25 (KJV): “He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish.”
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Answer 10: A: The song marks the days of oppression by naming Shamgar the son of Anath alongside Jael. Abinoam is the father of Barak, not of Shamgar, so that name belongs to a different man in the chapter.
KJV Reference: Judges 5:6 (KJV): “In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways.”
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Answer 11: C: The song declares that the stars in their courses fought against Sisera from heaven. The clouds that dropped water belong to the opening picture of God coming from Seir, not to the heavenly battle against Sisera.
KJV Reference: Judges 5:20 (KJV): “They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.”
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Answer 12: E: The princes of Issachar are named as being with Deborah in the muster of the tribes. Reuben, by contrast, stayed among the sheepfolds and is not counted among those who stood with her.
KJV Reference: Judges 5:15 (KJV): “And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah; even Issachar, and also Barak: he was sent on foot into the valley. For the divisions of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart.”
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Answer 13: A: It is the mother of Sisera who looked out the window and cried through the lattice, wondering why his chariot delayed. Her wise ladies answer her in the next verse, but it is the mother herself who watches and cries.
KJV Reference: Judges 5:28 (KJV): “The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots?”
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Answer 14: B: The song pictures the LORD going out of Seir and marching out of the field of Edom, with the earth trembling. Sinai is mentioned in the next verse as a mountain that melted before the LORD, but the marching out is from Seir and Edom.
KJV Reference: Judges 5:4 (KJV): “Lord, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water.”
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Answer 15: C: The song asks whether a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel, marking how disarmed the people were. The same number forty returns at the end as the years of rest, but here it counts the forty thousand of Israel.
KJV Reference: Judges 5:8 (KJV): “They chose new gods; then was war in the gates: was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?”
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Answer 16: E: The river Kishon swept the enemy away, and the song calls it that ancient river. Jordan and Megiddo appear elsewhere in the chapter, but the river that carried off the army is Kishon.
KJV Reference: Judges 5:21 (KJV): “The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength.”
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Answer 17: D: The divisions of Reuben stayed among the sheepfolds, with great searchings of heart, rather than going to war. Dan and Asher are also faulted in the song, but the sheepfolds and the bleating flocks are named with Reuben.
KJV Reference: Judges 5:16 (KJV): “Why abodest thou among the sheepfolds, to hear the bleatings of the flocks? For the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.”
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Answer 18: A: The song pronounces Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite blessed above women in the tent for killing Sisera. Deborah is honoured as a mother in Israel, but the blessing above women in the tent is spoken over Jael.
KJV Reference: Judges 5:24 (KJV): “Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent.”
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Answer 19: C: In the days of Shamgar and Jael the highways were unoccupied, so travellers kept to the byways. The broken horsehoofs belong to the later battle scene, not to this picture of deserted roads.
KJV Reference: Judges 5:6 (KJV): “In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways.”
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Answer 20: B: Zebulun and Naphtali are praised for risking their lives unto the death in the high places of the field. Reuben and Asher, by contrast, are faulted for staying back, so they are not among those who jeoparded their lives.
KJV Reference: Judges 5:18 (KJV): “Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field.”
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Answer 21: E: Sisera’s mother and her ladies imagined that every man would take a damsel or two as spoil. The needlework of divers colours is named as Sisera’s own portion, not as what each common soldier would receive.
KJV Reference: Judges 5:30 (KJV): “Have they not sped? have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two; to Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of divers colours of needlework, of divers colours of needlework on both sides, meet for the necks of them that take the spoil?”
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Answer 22: D: The song says Barak was sent on foot into the valley in the muster of the tribes. The high places of the field name where Zebulun and Naphtali made their stand, not where Barak was sent.
KJV Reference: Judges 5:15 (KJV): “And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah; even Issachar, and also Barak: he was sent on foot into the valley. For the divisions of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart.”
