Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageThrough the window she peered; the mother of Sisera cried out through the lattice: 'Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why are the sounds of his chariots delayed?'
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GThrough the window she gazed, the mother of Sisera cried through the lattice: 'Why does his chariot delay in coming? Why do the hoofbeats of his chariots linger?'
KJV
King James VersionThe 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?
BSB
Berean Standard BibleSisera’s mother looked through the window; she peered through the lattice and lamented: ‘Why is his chariot so long in coming? What has delayed the clatter of his chariots?’
Footnotes
The sudden shift to Sisera's mother is a masterstroke of poetic empathy and irony. The very *chalon* (window/lattice) that women looked through to watch for returning warriors becomes here a frame of ignorance and grief. She watches and waits, not knowing he will never come. The poem does not gloat — it lets the reader sit in her unknowing with terrible compassion. This image of a mother waiting at a window for a son who will not return carries weight that transcends the political victory, humanising even the enemy's household.
