Judith 15–16

Chapter 15

¹When the men in the tents heard it, they were amazed at what had happened. ²Fear and trembling came over them, so that they did not wait for one another, but with one impulse all rushed out and fled by every path across the plain and through the hill country. ³Those who had camped in the hills around Bethulia also took to flight. Then the men of Israel, every one that was a soldier, rushed out upon them. ⁴And Uzziah sent men to Betomasthaim and Bebai and Choba and Kola, and to all the frontiers of Israel, to tell what had taken place and to urge all to rush out upon their enemies to destroy them. ⁵And when the Israelites heard it, with one accord they fell upon the enemy,^u and cut them down as far as Choba. Those in Jerusalem and all the hill country also came, for they were told what had happened in the camp of the enemy; and those in Gilead and in Galilee outflanked them with great slaughter, even beyond Damascus and its borders. ⁶The rest of the people of Bethulia fell upon the Assyrian camp and plundered it, and were greatly enriched. ⁷And the Israelites, when they returned from the slaughter, took possession of what remained, and the villages and towns in the hill country and in the plain got a great amount of booty, for there was a vast quantity of it.

⁸Then Joakim the high priest, and the senate of the people of Israel who lived at Jerusalem, came to witness the good things which the Lord had done for Israel, and to see Judith and to greet her. ⁹And when they met her they all blessed her with one accord and said to her, “You are the exaltation of Jerusalem, you are the great glory of Israel, you are the great pride of our nation! ¹⁰You have done all this singlehanded; you have done great good to Israel, and God is well pleased with it. May the Almighty Lord bless you for ever!” And all the people said, “So be it!”

¹¹So all the people plundered the camp for thirty days. They gave Judith the tent of Holofernes and all his silver dishes and his beds and his bowls and all his furniture; and she took them and loaded her mule and hitched up her carts and piled the things on them.

¹²Then all the women of Israel gathered to see her, and blessed her, and some of them performed a dance for her; and she took branches in her hands and gave them to the women who were with her; ¹³and they crowned themselves with olive wreaths, she and those who were with her; and she went before all the people in the dance, leading all the women, while all the men of Israel followed, bearing their arms and wearing garlands and with songs on their lips.

Chapter 16

¹Then Judith began this thanksgiving before all Israel, and all the people loudly sang this song of praise. ²And Judith said,

Begin a song to my God with tambourines,

sing to my Lord with cymbals.

Raise to him a new psalm;^v

exalt him, and call upon his name.

³For God is the Lord who crushes wars;

for he has delivered me out of the hands of my pursuers,

and brought me to his camp, in the midst of the people.

⁴The Assyrian came down from the mountains of the north;

he came with myriads of his warriors;

their multitude blocked up the valleys,

their cavalry covered the hills.

⁵He boasted that he would burn up my territory,

and kill my young men with the sword,

and dash my infants to the ground

and seize my children as prey,

and take my virgins as booty.

⁶But the Lord Almighty has foiled them

by the hand of a woman.

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

nor did the sons of the Titans smite him,

nor did tall giants set upon him;

but Judith the daughter of Merari undid him

with the beauty of her countenance.

⁸For she took off her widow’s mourning

to exalt the oppressed in Israel.

She anointed her face with ointment

and fastened her hair with a tiara

and put on a linen gown to deceive him.

⁹Her sandal ravished his eyes,

her beauty captivated his mind,

and the sword severed his neck.

¹⁰The Persians trembled at her boldness,

the Medes were daunted at her daring.

¹¹Then my oppressed people shouted for joy;

my weak people shouted^w and the enemy^x trembled;

they lifted up their voices, and the enemy were turned back.

¹²The sons of maidservants have pierced them through;

they were wounded like the children of fugitives,

they perished before the army of my Lord.

¹³I will sing to my God a new song:

O Lord, thou are great and glorious,

wonderful in strength, invincible.

¹⁴Let all thy creatures serve thee,

for thou didst speak, and they were made.

Thou didst send forth thy Spirit,^y and it formed them;

there is none that can resist thy voice.

¹⁵For the mountains shall be shaken to their foundations with the waters;

at thy presence the rocks shall melt like wax,

but to those who fear thee

thou wilt continue to show mercy.

¹⁶For every sacrifice as a fragrant offering is a small thing,

and all fat for burnt offerings to thee is a very little thing,

but he who fears the Lord shall be great for ever.

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

The Lord Almighty will take vengeance on them in the day of judgment;

fire and worms he will give to their flesh;

they shall weep in pain for ever.

¹⁸When they arrived at Jerusalem they worshiped God. As soon as the people were purified, they offered their burnt offerings, their freewill offerings, and their gifts. ¹⁹Judith also dedicated to God all the vessels of Holofernes, which the people had given her; and the canopy which she took for herself from his bedchamber she gave as a votive offering to the Lord. ²⁰So the people continued feasting in Jerusalem before the sanctuary for three months, and Judith remained with them.

²¹After this every one returned home to his own inheritance, and Judith went to Bethulia, and remained on her estate, and was honored in her time throughout the whole country. ²²Many desired to marry her, but she remained a widow all the days of her life after Manasseh her husband died and was gathered to his people. ²³She became more and more famous, and grew old in her husband’s house, until she was one hundred and five years old. She set her maid free. She died in Bethulia, and they buried her in the cave of her husband Manasseh, ²⁴and the house of Israel mourned for her seven days. Before she died she distributed her property to all those who were next of kin to her husband Manasseh, and to her own nearest kindred. ²⁵And no one ever again spread terror among the people of Israel in the days of Judith, or for a long time after her death.