Judith as a Guest of Holofernes

12 Then he commanded them to bring her in where his silver dishes were kept, and ordered them to set a table for her with some of his own food and to serve her with his own wine. ² But Judith said, “I cannot eat it, lest it be an offense; but I will be provided from the things I have brought with me.” ³ Holofer′nes said to her, “If your supply runs out, where can we get more like it for you? For none of your people is here with us.” ⁴ Judith replied, “As your soul lives, my lord, your servant will not use up the things I have with me before the Lord carries out by my hand what he has determined to do.”

⁵ Then the servants of Holofer′nes brought her into the tent, and she slept until midnight. Along toward the morning watch she arose ⁶ and sent to Holofer′nes and said, “Let my lord now command that your servant be permitted to go out and pray.” ⁷ So Holofer′nes commanded his guards not to hinder her. And she remained in the camp for three days, and went out each night to the valley of Bethu′lia, and bathed at the spring in the camp.^{[a] 8} When she came up from the spring she prayed the Lord God of Israel to direct her way for the raising up of her people. ⁹ So she returned clean and stayed in the tent until she ate her food toward evening.

Judith Attends Holofernes’ Banquet

¹⁰ On the fourth day Holofer′nes held a banquet for his slaves only, and did not invite any of his officers. ¹¹ And he said to Bago′as, the eunuch who had charge of all his personal affairs, “Go now and persuade the Hebrew woman who is in your care to join us and eat and drink with us. ¹² For it will be a disgrace if we let such a woman go without enjoying her company, for if we do not embrace her she will laugh at us.” ¹³ So Bago′as went out from the presence of Holofer′nes, and approached her and said, “This beautiful maidservant will please come to my lord and be honored in his presence, and drink wine and be merry with us, and become today like one of the daughters of the Assyrians who serve in the house of Nebuchadnez′zar.” ¹⁴ And Judith said, “Who am I, to refuse my lord? Surely whatever pleases him I will do at once, and it will be a joy to me until the day of my death!” ¹⁵ So she got up and arrayed herself in all her woman’s finery, and her maid went and spread on the ground for her before Holofer′nes the soft fleeces which she had received from Bago′as for her daily use, so that she might recline on them when she ate.

¹⁶ Then Judith came in and lay down, and Holofer′nes’ heart was ravished with her and he was moved with great desire to possess her; for he had been waiting for an opportunity to deceive her, ever since the day he first saw her. ¹⁷ So Holofer′nes said to her. “Drink now, and be merry with us!” ¹⁸ Judith said, “I will drink now, my lord, because my life means more to me today than in all the days since I was born.” ¹⁹ Then she took and ate and drank before him what her maid had prepared. ²⁰ And Holofer′nes was greatly pleased with her, and drank a great quantity of wine, much more than he had ever drunk in any one day since he was born.

Judith Beheads Holofernes

13 When evening came, his slaves quickly withdrew, and Bago′as closed the tent from outside and shut out the attendants from his master’s presence; and they went to bed, for they all were weary because the banquet had lasted long. ² So Judith was left alone in the tent , with Holofer′nes stretched out on his bed, for he was overcome with wine.

³ Now Judith had told her maid to stand outside the bedchamber and to wait for her to come out, as she did every day; for she said she would be going out for her prayers. And she had said the same thing to Bago′as. ⁴ So every one went out, and no one, either small or great, was left in the bedchamber. Then Judith, standing beside his bed, said in her heart, “O Lord God of all might, look in this hour upon the work of my hands for the exaltation of Jerusalem. ⁵ For now is the time to help thy inheritance, and to carry out my undertaking for the destruction of the enemies who have risen up against us.”

⁶ She went up to the post at the end of the bed, above Holofer′nes’ head, and took down his sword that hung there. ⁷ She came close to his bed and took hold of the hair of his head, and said, “Give me strength this day, O Lord God of Israel!” ⁸ And she struck his neck twice with all her might, and severed his head from his body. ⁹ Then she tumbled his body off the bed and pulled down the canopy from the posts; after a moment she went out, and gave Holofer′nes’ head to her maid, ¹⁰ who placed it in her food bag.

Judith Returns to Bethulia

Then the two of them went out together, as they were accustomed to go for prayer; and they passed through the camp and circled around the valley and went up the mountain to Bethu′lia and came to its gates. ¹¹ Judith called out from afar to the watchmen at the gates, “Open, open the gate! God, our God, is still with us, to show his power in Israel, and his strength against our enemies, even as he has done this day!”

¹² When the men of her city heard her voice, they hurried down to the city gate and called together the elders of the city. ¹³ They all ran together, both small and great, for it was unbelievable that she had returned; they opened the gate and admitted them, and they kindled a fire for light, and gathered around them. ¹⁴ Then she said to them with a loud voice, “Praise God, O praise him! Praise God, who has not withdrawn his mercy from the house of Israel, but has destroyed our enemies by my hand this very night!”

¹⁵ Then she took the head out of the bag and showed it to them, and said, “See, here is the head of Holofer′nes, the commander of the Assyrian army, and here is the canopy beneath which he lay in his drunken stupor. The Lord has struck him down by the hand of a woman. ¹⁶ As the Lord lives, who has protected me in the way I went, it was my face that tricked him to his destruction, and yet he committed no act of sin with me, to defile and shame me.”

¹⁷ All the people were greatly astonished, and bowed down and worshiped God, and said with one accord, “Blessed art thou, our God, who hast brought into contempt this day the enemies of thy people.”

¹⁸ And Uzzi′ah said to her, “O daughter, you are blessed by the Most High God above all women on earth; and blessed be the Lord God, who created the heavens and the earth, who has guided you to strike the head of the leader of our enemies. ¹⁹ Your hope will never depart from the hearts of men, as they remember the power of God. ²⁰ May God grant this to be a perpetual honor to you, and may he visit you with blessings, because you did not spare your own life when our nation was brought low, but have avenged our ruin, walking in the straight path before our God.” And all the people said, “So be it, so be it!”^[b]

Judith’s Counsel

14 Then Judith said to them, “Listen to me, my brethren, and take this head and hang it upon the parapet of your wall. ² And as soon as morning comes and the sun rises, let every valiant man take his weapons and go out of the city, and set a captain over them, as if you were going down to the plain against the Assyrian outpost; only do not go down. ³ Then they will seize their arms and go into the camp and rouse the officers of the Assyrian army; and they will rush into the tent of Holofer′nes, and will not find him. Then fear will come over them, and they will flee before you, ⁴ and you and all who live within the borders of Israel shall pursue them and cut them down as they flee. ⁵ But before you do all this, bring Ach′ior the Am′monite to me, and let him see and recognize the man who despised the house of Israel and sent him to us as if to his death.”

⁶ So they summoned Ach′ior from the house of Uzzi′ah. And when he came and saw the head of Holofer′nes in the hand of one of the men at the gathering of the people, he fell down on his face and his spirit failed him. ⁷ And when they raised him up he fell at Judith’s feet, and knelt before her, and said, “Blessed are you in every tent of Judah! In every nation those who hear your name will be alarmed. ⁸ Now tell me what you have done during these days.”

Then Judith described to him in the presence of the people all that she had done, from the day she left until the moment of her speaking to them. ⁹ And when she had finished, the people raised a great shout and made a joyful noise in their city. ¹⁰ And when Ach′ior saw all that the God of Israel had done, he believed firmly in God, and was circumcised, and joined the house of Israel, remaining so to this day.

Holofernes’ Death Is Discovered

¹¹ As soon as it was dawn they hung the head of Holofer′nes on the wall, and every man took his weapons, and they went out in companies to the passes in the mountains. ¹² And when the Assyrians saw them they sent word to their commanders, and they went to the generals and the captains and to all their officers. ¹³ So they came to Holofer′nes’ tent and said to the steward in charge of all his personal affairs, “Wake up our lord, for the slaves have been so bold as to come down against us to give battle, in order to be destroyed completely.”

¹⁴ So Bago′as went in and knocked at the door of the tent, for he supposed that he was sleeping with Judith. ¹⁵ But when no one answered, he opened it and went into the bedchamber and found him thrown down on the platform dead, with his head cut off and missing. ¹⁶ And he cried out with a loud voice and wept and groaned and shouted, and rent his garments. ¹⁷ Then he went to the tent where Judith had stayed, and when he did not find her he rushed out to the people and shouted, ¹⁸ “The slaves have tricked us! One Hebrew woman has brought disgrace upon the house of King Nebuchadnez′zar! For look, here is Holofer′nes lying on the ground, and his head is not on him!”

¹⁹ When the leaders of the Assyrian army heard this, they rent their tunics and were greatly dismayed, and their loud cries and shouts arose in the midst of the camp.

The Futility of Self-Indulgence

2 I said to myself, “Come now, I will make a test of pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity. ² I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” ³ I searched with my mind how to cheer my body with wine—my mind still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven during the few days of their life. ⁴ I made great works; I built houses and planted vineyards for myself; ⁵ I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. ⁶ I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. ⁷ I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house; I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. ⁸ I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces; I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines,^[a] man’s delight.

⁹ So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me. ¹⁰ And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. ¹¹ Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

Wisdom and Joy Given to One Who Pleases God

¹² So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what can the man do who comes after the king? Only what he has already done. ¹³ Then I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness. ¹⁴ The wise man has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness; and yet I perceived that one fate comes to all of them. ¹⁵ Then I said to myself, “What befalls the fool will befall me also; why then have I been so very wise?” And I said to myself that this also is vanity. ¹⁶ For of the wise man as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise man dies just like the fool! ¹⁷ So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a striving after wind.

¹⁸ I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me; ¹⁹ and who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. ²⁰ So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, ²¹ because sometimes a man who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by a man who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. ²² What has a man from all the toil and strain with which he toils beneath the sun? ²³ For all his days are full of pain, and his work is a vexation; even in the night his mind does not rest. This also is vanity.

²⁴ There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God; ²⁵ for apart from him^[b] who can eat or who can have enjoyment? ²⁶ For to the man who pleases him God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy; but to the sinner he gives the work of gathering and heaping, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

³⁶ And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phan′u-el, of the tribe of Asher; she was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years from her virginity, ³⁷ and as a widow till she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. ³⁸ And coming up at that very hour she gave thanks to God, and spoke of him to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

The Return to Nazareth

³⁹ And when they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. ⁴⁰ And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

The Boy Jesus in the Temple

⁴¹ Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. ⁴² And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom; ⁴³ and when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, ⁴⁴ but supposing him to be in the company they went a day’s journey, and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintances; ⁴⁵ and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking him. ⁴⁶ After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions; ⁴⁷ and all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. ⁴⁸ And when they saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously.” ⁴⁹ And he said to them, “How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”^{[a] 50} And they did not understand the saying which he spoke to them. ⁵¹ And he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart.

⁵² And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature,^[b] and in favor with God and man.