Jael (JAY-el) — Jael was the wife of Heber the Kenite. After Sisera fled the battle near Mount Tabor, she received him in her tent and killed him while he slept.
Birth year: Unknown.
Death year: Unknown.
Active during: The period of Israel’s judges; no secure calendar years are supplied.
Home region: Near Kedesh in northern Canaan.
Main passages: Judges 4–5.
Story and role
Jael was the wife of Heber the Kenite. After Sisera fled the battle near Mount Tabor, she received him in her tent and killed him while he slept.
How the dates were determined
The biblical text places Jael within this broad period: The period of Israel’s judges; no secure calendar years are supplied. Where an approximate calendar date is shown, it follows a conventional historical reconstruction rather than a date stated in Scripture. BC means “before Christ”; AD marks years in the traditional Christian calendar.
Limits of the evidence
Judges does not provide Jael’s birth, death, age, or the exact location of Heber’s encampment. The markers give regional orientation rather than a reconstructed battlefield or tent site. The artwork is an imagined historical illustration, not a known likeness.
Explore the places connected with Jael on a modern reference map.