Judith 13

1When evening came, his servants hurried to depart; and Bagoas shut the tent from outside and excluded those in attendance from the presence of his lord, and they went away to their beds.

2For they were all exhausted, because the drinking had gone on too long.

3But Judith was left alone in the tent, and Holofernes had collapsed on his bed, for the wine had overwhelmed him.

4And Judith told her female servant to stand outside her sleeping chamber and watch for her going out, as on previous days, for she said that she would go out for her prayer; and she spoke to Bagoas according to these words.

5And they all went away from his presence, and no one was left in the bedroom, from the least to the greatest.

6And Judith stood beside his bed and said in her heart, “Lord, God of all power, look upon the works of my hands at this hour, for the exaltation of Jerusalem.”

7And she went up to the bed, seized the hair of his head, and said, “Strengthen me, O God of Israel, on this day.”

8And approaching the bedpost that was at Holofernes’s head, she took down his sword from it,

9And when she came near to the bed, she seized the hair of his head and said, “Strengthen me, O God of Israel, on this day.”

10And she struck his neck twice with all her strength, and removed his head, and rolled his body off the bed, and took the canopy down from the posts.

11And Judith said from a distance to those guarding the gates, “Open up, open up the gate, for God, our God, is with us, still to show strength in Israel and power against our enemies, just as he has done today.”

12And when the men of her city heard her voice, they hurried down to the gate of their city and called together the elders of the city.

13And they all ran together, from the least to the greatest among them, because it seemed astonishing to them that she had come; and they opened the gate and welcomed them. After lighting a fire for light, they gathered around them.

14And she said to them with a loud voice, “Praise God, praise him; praise God, who has not withdrawn his mercy from the house of Israel, but has shattered our enemies by my hand in this night.”

15And coming forward, she showed them the head from the bag and said to them, “Look, the head of Holofernes, the commander-in-chief of the army of Asshur; and look, the canopy under which he was lying in his drunkenness. And the Lord struck him down by the hand of a woman.”

16And as the Lord lives, who guarded me on the way by which I went, my face deceived him to his destruction, and he did not commit sin with me, resulting in defilement and shame.

17And all the people were greatly astonished, and bowing down they worshiped God and said with one accord, “Blessed are you, our God, who today have brought the enemies of your people to nothing.”

18And Uzziah said to her, “Blessed are you, daughter, by the Most High God above all the women on the earth,”

19And blessed is the Lord God, who created the heavens and the earth, who directed you to strike the head of the ruler of our enemies.

20And may God make these things for you into everlasting exaltation, to visit you with good things, because you did not spare your life on account of the humiliation of our people, but went out against our fallen condition, having walked straight before our God. And all the people said, “Amen, amen.”