Judith 15

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

The Assyrians Flee in Panic

15 When the men in the tents heard it, they were amazed at what had happened. ² Fear 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. ³ Those who had camped in the hills around Bethu′lia also took to flight. Then the men of Israel, every one that was a soldier, rushed out upon them. ⁴ And Uzzi′ah sent men to Betomastha′im and Be′bai 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. ⁵ And when the Israelites heard it, with one accord they fell upon the enemy,^[a] 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 Gil′ead and in Galilee outflanked them with great slaughter, even beyond Damas′cus and its borders. ⁶ The rest of the people of Bethu′lia fell upon the Assyrian camp and plundered it, and were greatly enriched. ⁷ And 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.

The Israelites Celebrate Their Victory

⁸ Then Jo′akim 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. ⁹ And when they met her they all blessed her with one accord and said to her, “You are the exaltation of Jerusalem,^[b] you are the great glory of Israel, you are the great pride of our nation! ¹⁰ You 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!”

¹¹ So all the people plundered the camp for thirty days. They gave Judith the tent of Holofer′nes 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.

¹² Then 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; ¹³ and 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.