For he has not tried us with fire, as he did them, to search their hearts, nor has he taken revenge upon us; but the Lord scourges those who draw near to him, in order to admonish them.”

So pray for us, since you are a devout woman, and the Lord will send us rain to fill our cisterns and we will no longer be faint.”

Stand at the city gate tonight, and I will go out with my maid; and within the days after which you have promised to surrender the city to our enemies, the Lord will deliver Israel by my hand.

Uzzi′ah and the rulers said to her, “Go in peace, and may the Lord God go before you, to take revenge upon our enemies.”

The Prayer of Judith

Then Judith fell upon her face, and put ashes on her head, and uncovered the sackcloth she was wearing; and at the very time when that evening’s incense was being offered in the house of God in Jerusalem, Judith cried out to the Lord with a loud voice, and said,

“O Lord God of my father Sim′eon, to whom thou gavest a sword to take revenge on the strangers who had loosed the girdle of a virgin to defile her, and uncovered her thigh to put her to shame, and polluted her womb to disgrace her; for thou hast said, ‘It shall not be done’—yet they did it.

“Behold now, the Assyrians are increased in their might; they are exalted, with their horses and riders; they glory in the strength of their foot soldiers; they trust in shield and spear, in bow and sling, and know not that thou art the Lord who crushest wars; the Lord is thy name.

Hear, O hear me, God of my father, God of the inheritance of Israel, Lord of heaven and earth, Creator of the waters, King of all thy creation, hear my prayer!

“You have saved your life by hurrying down to the presence of our lord. Go at once to his tent; some of us will escort you and hand you over to him.

Have courage; you will live, tonight and from now on. No one will hurt you, but all will treat you well, as they do the servants of my lord King Nebuchadnez′zar.”

Judith Explains Her Presence

Judith replied to him, “Accept the words of your servant, and let your maidservant speak in your presence, and I will tell nothing false to my lord this night.

And if you follow out the words of your maidservant, God will accomplish something through you, and my lord will not fail to achieve his purposes.

Therefore, my lord and master, do not disregard what he said, but keep it in your mind, for it is true: our nation cannot be punished, nor can the sword prevail against them, unless they sin against their God.

“And now, in order that my lord may not be defeated and his purpose frustrated, death will fall upon them, for a sin has overtaken them by which they are about to provoke their God to anger when they do what is wrong.

For your servant is religious, and serves the God of heaven day and night; therefore, my lord, I will remain with you, and every night your servant will go out into the valley, and I will pray to God and he will tell me when they have committed their sins.

And Holofer′nes said to her, “God has done well to send you before the people, to lend strength to our hands and to bring destruction upon those who have slighted my lord.

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.”

and sent to Holofer′nes and said, “Let my lord now command that your servant be permitted to go out and pray.”

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.

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.”

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!”

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.”

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.

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!”

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.