Jael or Yael is a heroine of the Battle of Mount Tabor, described in chapters 4 and 5 of the Book of Judges. In the account, she delivers the Israelites from the army of King Jabin of the city of Hazor in Canaan. After Barak demurs at the behest of the prophetess Deborah, God turns Sisera over to Jael, who kills him by driving a tent peg through his skull after he enters her tent near the great tree in Zaanaim near Kedesh.
Jacopo Amigoni, Jael and Sisera, 1739
Jael shows Sisera lying dead to Barak, James Tissot, 1896–1902
Limoges enamel plaque, 1550–75
Jan Saenredam engraving picturing Jael killing Sisera
The Book of Judges is the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. In the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, it covers the time between the conquest described in the Book of Joshua and the establishment of a kingdom in the Books of Samuel, during which Biblical judges served as temporary leaders.
Samson
"Gideon thanks God for the miracle of the dew", painting by Maarten van Heemskerck (Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg)
An illustrated page from the Book of Judges in a German Bible, dated 1485 (Bodleian Library)