foreboding the disastrous result of the war. תּיבּב, ἁπ. λεγ., signifies to cry; in Aramaean it is used for הריע and רנּן, to denote a loud joyful cry; here it evidently signifies a loud cry of anxiety. For the repeated question, Why does his chariot delay its coming? is evidently expressive of anxiety and alarm. The form אחרוּ, perf. Piel for אחרוּ, may be attributed to the influence of the aleph, which favours the seghol sound, like יחמוּ in Gen 30:39. The combination of מרכּבותיו פּעמי, “steps of his chariots,” cannot be explained, as it is by Bertheau, on the ground that the word פעמי, as a general expression for intermittent movement, might also be applied to the jerking of the wheels in rolling, but simply on the supposition that מרכּבות, as a synonym for רכב, is used for the horses yoked to the chariot in the sense of team, like רכב in 2Sa 8:4; 2Sa 10:18, etc.
Verses 29-30
The princesses in attendance upon Sisera's mother sought to console her with the remark, that Sisera would have to gather together rich booty, and that his return was delayed in consequence. In the expression “the wisest of her princesses” (see Ges. §119, 2), the irony is very obvious, as the reality put all their wise conjectures to shame. תּעננּה, third pers. plur. fem. for תּענינה. The second hemistich of Jdg 5:29 contains a clause inserted as a parenthesis. אף־היא is adversative: “but she;” אף is only an emphatic copula; the antithesis lies in the emphatic change of subject indicated by היא. אמריה השׁיב, lit. to bring back her words, i.e., to repeat. להּ is used in a reflective sense, “to herself.” The meaning is: But Sisera's mother did not allow herself to be quieted by the words of her wise princesses; on the contrary, she kept repeating the anxious question, Why does Sisera delay his coming? In Jdg 5:30 there follows the answer of the wise princesses. They imagine that Sisera has been detained by the large amount of booty which has to be divided. הלא, nonne, is he not, in the sense of lively certainty. They will certainly discover rich booty, and divide it. רחם, uterus, for puella. “A girl (or indeed probably) two girls to the head of the man,” i.e., for each man. צבעים, coloured things, cloths or clothes. רקמה, worked stuff, or garments worked in divers colours (see the remarks on Exo 26:36), is attached without the vav cop. to צבעים, and is also dependent upon שׁלל. The closing words, שׁלל לצוּארי, “for the necks,” or (as the plural is also frequently used to signify a single neck, e.g., Gen 27:16; Gen 45:14) “for the neck of the booty,” do not give any appropriate sense, as שׁלל neither signifies animals taken as booty nor the taker of booty. The idea, however, that שׁלל is used for שׁלל אישׁ, like הלך in 2Sa 12:4 for הלך אישׁ,
