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Selected Verse: Judges 5:21 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Jud 5:21	Strong Concordance	The river [05158] of Kishon [07028] swept them away [01640], that ancient [06917] river [05158], the river [05158] Kishon [07028]. O my soul [05315], thou hast trodden down [01869] strength [05797].
	King James	The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength.

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
the river of Kishon swept them away--The enemy was defeated near "the waters of Megiddo"--the sources and side streams of the Kishon: they that fled had to cross the deep and marshy bed of the torrent, but the Lord had sent a heavy rain--the waters suddenly rose--the warriors fell into the quicksands, and sinking deep into them, were drowned or washed into the sea [VAN DE VELDE].

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

the river of Kishon swept them away--The enemy was defeated near "the waters of Megiddo"--the sources and side streams of the Kishon: they that fled had to cross the deep and marshy bed of the torrent, but the Lord had sent a heavy rain--the waters suddenly rose--the warriors fell into the quicksands, and sinking deep into them, were drowned or washed into the sea [VAN DE VELDE].

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
The word translated ancient occurs only here. The phrase probably means that Kishon was celebrated from ancient times on account of the battles fought on its banks.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
The kings of Canaan could do nothing against these powers. They were smitten; the brook Kishon washed them (i.e., their corpses) away. The meaning "to wash away" is well established by the dialects and the context, though the verb itself only occurs here. As the battle was fought between Taanach and Megiddo, i.e., to the south of the brook Kishon, and the smitten foe fled towards the north, many of them met with their death in the waves of the brook, which was flowing over its banks at the time. The brook is called קדוּמים נחל, i.e., the brook of the old world or the olden time (according to the lxx Cod. Vat. χειμάῤῥους ἀρχαίων), as the stream that had been flowing from time immemorial, and not, as the Chaldee interprets it, the stream that had been celebrated from olden time on account of the mighty acts that had been performed there. The meaning suggested by Ewald and others, "brook of attacks, or slaughters," is not well sustained, although קדּם is sometimes used to denote a hostile encounter. The last clause interrupts the description of the slaughter and the victory. Borne away by the might of the acts to be commemorated, Deborah stimulates her soul, i.e., herself, to a vigorous continuation of her song. תּדרכי is jussive, and עז an accusative governed by the verb, in strength, vigorously; for she had still to celebrate the glorious results of the victory. This is done in the third part of the song (Jdg 5:22-31), the first strophe of which (Jdg 5:22-24) describes in brief drastic traits the flight of the foe, and the treatment of the fugitives by the people of the land.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
River of Kishon - Which, though not great in itself, was now much swelled by the foregoing storm and rain, and therefore drowned those who being pursued by the hand of God, and by the Israelites, were forced into it, and thought to pass over it, as they did before. Ancient river - So called, either, first, in opposition to those rivers which are of a later date, being made by the hand and art of man. Or, secondly, because it was a river anciently famous for remarkable exploits, for which it was celebrated by the ancient poets or writers, though not here mentioned. Trodden down - Thou, O Deborah, though but a weak woman, hast by God's assistance subdued a potent enemy. Such abrupt speeches are frequent in poetical scriptures.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
The river of Kishon swept them away - This gives plausibility to the above conjecture, that there was a storm at this time which produced an inundation in the river Kishon, which the routed Canaanites attempting to ford were swept away.

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²² Then were the horsehoofs [06119] [05483] broken [01986] by the means of the pransings [01726], the pransings [01726] of their mighty ones [047].
²³ Curse [0779] ye Meroz [04789], said [0559] the angel [04397] of the LORD [03068], curse [0779] ye bitterly [0779] the inhabitants [03427] thereof; because they came [0935] not to the help [05833] of the LORD [03068], to the help [05833] of the LORD [03068] against the mighty [01368].
²⁴ Blessed [01288] above women [0802] shall Jael [03278] the wife [0802] of Heber [02268] the Kenite [07017] be, blessed [01288] shall she be above women [0802] in the tent [0168].
²⁵ He asked [07592] water [04325], and she gave [05414] him milk [02461]; she brought forth [07126] butter [02529] in a lordly [0117] dish [05602].
²⁶ She put [07971] her hand [03027] to the nail [03489], and her right hand [03225] to the workmen's [06001] hammer [01989]; and with the hammer she smote [01986] Sisera [05516], she smote off [04277] his head [07218], when she had pierced [04272] and stricken through [02498] his temples [07541].
²⁷ At her feet [07272] he bowed [03766], he fell [05307], he lay down [07901]: at her feet [07272] he bowed [03766], he fell [05307]: where [0834] he bowed [03766], there he fell down [05307] dead [07703].
²⁸ The mother [0517] of Sisera [05516] looked [08259] out at a window [02474], and cried [02980] through the lattice [0822], Why is his chariot [07393] so long [0954] in coming [0935]? why tarry [0309] the wheels [06471] of his chariots [04818]?
²⁹ Her wise [02450] ladies [08282] answered [06030] her, yea, she returned [07725] answer [0561] to herself,
³⁰ Have they not sped [04672]? have they not divided [02505] the prey [07998]; to every [07218] man [01397] a damsel [07356] or two [07361]; to Sisera [05516] a prey [07998] of divers colours [06648], a prey [07998] of divers colours [06648] of needlework [07553], of divers colours [06648] of needlework on both sides [07553], meet for the necks [06677] of them that take the spoil [07998]?
³¹ So let all thine enemies [0341] perish [06], O LORD [03068]: but let them that love [0157] him be as the sun [08121] when he goeth forth [03318] in his might [01369]. And the land [0776] had rest [08252] forty [0705] years [08141].