Judith 16

Then Judith began to sing this thanksgiving in all Israel, and all the people sang after her this song of praise. ²And Judith said,

Begin unto my God with ^atimbrels,

Sing unto my Lord with ^bcymbals:

Tune unto him a new psalm:

Exalt him, and call upon his name.

³For God ^cbreaketh the battles:

For amongst the camps in the midst of the people

He hath delivered me out of the hands of them that persecuted me.

⁴Assur came out of the mountains ^dfrom the north,

He came with ten thousands of his army,

The multitude whereof stopped the torrents,

And ^etheir horsemen have covered the hills.

^5fHe bragged that he would burn up my borders,

And kill my young men with the sword,

And ^gdash the sucking children against the ground,

And make mine infants ^has a prey,

And my virgins as a spoil.

⁶But the ⁱAlmighty Lord hath disappointed them ^kby the hand of a woman.

⁷For the mighty one did not fall by the young men,

Neither did the sons of the ^lTitans smite him,

Nor high ^mgiants set upon him:

But ⁿJudith the daughter of Merari weakened him with the beauty of her countenance.

⁸For she put off ^othe garment of her widowhood

For the exaltation of those that were oppressed in Israel,

And ^oanointed her face with ointment,

And ^obound her hair in a tire,

And took a linen garment to deceive him.

^9pHer sandals ravished his eyes,

Her beauty took his mind prisoner,

And the ^qfauchin passed through his neck.

¹⁰The ^rPersians quaked at her boldness,

And the ^sMedes were ^tdaunted at her hardiness.

¹¹Then my afflicted shouted for joy,

And my weak ones cried aloud; but they were astonished;

These lifted up their voices, but they were overthrown.

¹²The sons of the damsels have pierced them through,

And wounded them as fugitives’ children:

They perished by the ^ubattle of the Lord.

¹³I will sing unto the Lord a new song:

^wO Lord, thou art great and glorious,

Wonderful in strength, and invincible.

¹⁴Let all creatures serve thee:

^xFor thou spakest, and they were made,

^yThou didst send forth thy spirit, and it created them,

And there is none that can resist thy voice.

¹⁵For ^zthe mountains shall be moved from their foundations with the waters,

The rocks ^ashall melt as wax at thy presence:

Yet thou art merciful to them that fear thee.

¹⁶For all sacrifice is too little for ^ba sweet savour unto thee,

And all the fat is not sufficient for thy burnt offering:

But he that feareth the Lord is great at all times.

¹⁷Woe to the nations that rise up against my kindred!

The Lord ⁱAlmighty will take vengeance of them ^cin the day of judgment,

In putting fire and ^dworms in their flesh;

And they shall feel them, and weep for ever.

¹⁸Now as soon as they entered into Jerusalem, they worshipped the Lord; and as soon as the people were purified, they offered their burnt offerings, and their free offerings, and their gifts. ¹⁹Judith also dedicated all the ^estuff of Olofernes, which the people had given her, and gave the ^fcanopy, which she had taken out of his bedchamber, for a ^ggift unto the Lord. ²⁰So the people continued feasting in Jerusalem ^hbefore the sanctuary for the space of three months, and Judith remained with them. ²¹After this time every one returned to his own inheritance, and Judith went to Bethulia, and remained in her own possession, and was in her time honourable in all the country. ²²And many desired her, but none knew her all the days of her life, after that ⁱManasses her husband was dead, and ^kwas gathered to his people. ²³But she increased more and more in honour, and waxed old in her husband’s house, being ^lan hundred and five years old, and made ^mher maid free; so she died in Bethulia: and they buried her in the ⁿcave of her husband Manasses. ²⁴And the house of Israel lamented her ^oseven days: and before she died, she did distribute her goods to all them that were nearest of kindred to Manasses her husband, and to them that were the nearest of her kindred. ²⁵And there was none that made the children of Israel any more afraid in the days of Judith, nor a long time after her death.