Judith and Holofernes

(1) Judith fell upon her face and put ashes on her head and uncovered the sackcloth she was wearing; and, about the time that the incense of that evening was offered in Jerusalem in the house of the Lord, Judith cried with a loud voice, and said,

(2) O Lord God of my father Simeon, to whom you gave a sword to take vengeance on the strangers, who loosened the girdle of a maid to defile her, and uncovered the thigh to her shame, and polluted her virginity to her reproach; for you said, 'It will not be so,' and yet they did so.

(3) Therefore you gave their rulers to be slain, so that they dyed their bed in blood, being deceived, and you struck the servants with their lords

(4) and the lords upon their thrones; and you have given their wives for a prey and their daughters to be captives and all their spoils to be divided among your dear children, who were moved with your zeal and abhorred the pollution of their blood and called upon you for aid.

(5) O God, my God, hear me also for I am a widow.

(6) And you have wrought not only those things, but also the things which happened before and which followed afterwards; you have thought about the things which are now and which are to come. Yes, the things you established were ready at hand, and they said, 'Lo, we are here,' for all your ways are prepared and your judgments are in your foreknowledge.

(7) For, behold, the Assyrians are multiplied in their power; they are exalted with horse and man; they glory in the strength of their foot soldiers;

(8) they trust in shield and spear and bow and sling; and they do not know that you are the Lord who breaks the battles: the Lord is your name.

(9) Throw down their strength in your power and bring down their force in your wrath;

(10) for they have resolved to defile your sanctuary and to pollute the tabernacle where your glorious name rests and to cast down with sword the horn of your altar.

(11) Behold their pride and send your wrath upon their heads; give into my hand, the hand of a widow, the power that I have conceived.

(12) Strike, by the deceit of my lips, the servant with the prince, and the prince with the servant; break down their stateliness by the hand of a woman.

(13) For your power is not found in numbers, nor your might in strong men;

(14) for you are a God of the afflicted, a helper of the oppressed, an upholder of the weak, a protector of the forlorn, a savior of those who are without hope.

(15) I pray to you, I beg you, O God of my father and God of the inheritance of Israel, Lord of the heavens and the earth, Creator of the waters, King of every creature, hear my prayer;

(16) and make my speech and deceit to be their wound and stripe, who have resolved cruel things against your covenant and your hallowed house, and against the top of Zion and the house of the possession of your children;

(17) and so make every nation and tribe acknowledge that you are the God of all power and might, and that there is no other who protects the people of Israel but you.

(18) Now when Judith came in and sat down with Holofernes, his heart was inflamed with her, and his mind was stirred up, and he greatly desired her company; for he had been waiting for sometime to deceive her, even from the day that he had first seen her. Then Holofernes said to her, "Drink now and be merry with us."

(19) So Judith said, "I will drink now, my lord, because my life is exalted in me this day more than all the days since I was born." Then she took and ate and drank before him the things which her maid had prepared.

(20) And Holofernes took great delight in her, and he drank more wine than he had drunk at any time in one day since he was born.

(1) Now when evening had arrived, his servants hurried to depart, and Bagoas shut his tent from the outside and dismissed the waiters from the presence of his lord; and they went to their beds,

(2) for they were all weary because the feast had been long.

(3) And Judith was left alone in the tent with Holofernes lying by himself on his bed, for he was filled with wine.

(4) Now Judith had commanded her maid to stand outside her bedroom and to wait for her to go forth, as she did daily; for she said she would go forth to her prayers,

(5) and she spoke to Bagoas towards the same purpose.

(6) So everyone left and no one was left in the bedroom, neither little nor great. Then Judith, standing by his bed, said in her heart:

(7) "O Lord God of all power, look at this time upon the works of my hands for the exaltation of Jerusalem.

(8) For now is the time to help your inheritance and to execute your purposes for the destruction of the enemies who have risen against us."

(9) Then she went to the pillar of the bed, which was at Holofernes' head, and took down his broadsword from there.

(10) And she approached his bed, and took hold of the hair of his head, and said, "Strengthen me, O Lord God of Israel, this day."

(11) And she twice struck his neck with all her might, and she took his head away from him. And she tumbled his body down from the bed, and pulled down the canopy from the pillars; and, soon after, she went out

(12) and gave the head of Holofernes to her maid. And she put it in her bag of meat,

(13) so these two went together, according to their custom, to prayer; and when they passed the camp, they circled the valley and went up the mountain of Bethulia and came to its gates.

(14) Then Judith said, from far off to the watchmen at the gate,

(15) "Open, open the gate now! God, our God, is with us to show his power yet in Jerusalem and his forces against the enemy, as he has truly done on this day!"

(16) Now when the men of her city heard her voice, they hurried down to the gate of their city and they called the elders of the city.

(17) And then they ran all together, both small and great, for it was surprising to them that she had returned. So they opened the gate and received them;

(18) and they made a fire for a light, and they stood all around them.

(19) Then she said to them with a loud voice,

(20) "Praise, praise God, praise God, I say, for he has not taken away his mercy from the house of Israel, but has destroyed our enemies by my hands this night."

(21) So she took the head out of the bag and showed it and said to them,

(22) "Behold the head of Holofernes, the chief captain of the army of Assur, and behold the canopy where he had lain in his drunkenness; and the Lord has struck him by the hand of a woman.

(23) As the Lord lives, who has preserved me in the path that I took, my attractiveness has deceived him to his destruction, and yet he did not commit sin with me, to defile and shame me."

(24) Then all the people were wonderfully astonished, and bowed themselves and worshipped God,