Judith 14

1And Judith said to them, “Listen to me, brothers, and take this head and hang it on the battlement of your wall.”

2And it shall be, when dawn breaks and the sun rises upon the earth, each of you shall take up your weapons of war, and every mighty man shall go out beyond the city. You shall appoint a leader over them, as though going down to the plain against the advance guard of the sons of Asshur; but you shall not go down.

3And these men, after taking up their armor, will go into their camp and will rouse the commanders of the army of Assyria;

4Then you and all who live within the whole territory of Israel, following after them, strike them down on their roads.

5But before you do these things, call Achior the Ammonite to me, so that he may see and recognize the one who has treated the house of Israel with contempt and has sent him to us as if to death.

6And they called Achior out of the house of Ozias. But when he came and saw the head of Holofernes in the hand of one man in the assembly of the people, he fell on his face, and his spirit failed.

7And when they had taken him up, he fell at Judith’s feet and bowed before her, and he said, “Blessed are you in every dwelling of Judah and among every nation; those who hear your name will be thrown into confusion.”

8And now tell me what you have done in these days. And Judith reported to him, in the midst of the people, all that she had done, from the day when she went out until the time when she was speaking to them.

9And when she stopped speaking, the people shouted with a loud voice and raised a joyful cry in their city.

10And when Achior saw all that the God of Israel had done, he believed in God greatly, and he circumcised the flesh of his foreskin, and was joined to the house of Israel to this day.

11When dawn came up, they hung the head of Holofernes from the wall, and every man of Israel took up his weapons and went out in companies to the mountain passes.

12But when the sons of Asshur saw them, they sent word to their leaders; and they came to the generals and commanders of thousands and to every one of their rulers.

13And they came to Holofernes’s tent, and said to the one over all his affairs, “Wake our lord at once, because the servants have dared to come down against us for battle, so that they may be utterly destroyed.”

14And Bagoas went in and knocked on the curtain of the tent, for he assumed that he was sleeping with Judith.

15But when no one answered, he drew aside the curtain and went into the bedroom, and found him lying dead on the canopy, and his head had been taken from him.

16And he cried out with a loud voice, with weeping and groaning and a mighty cry, and he tore his garments.

17And he went into the tent where Judith was staying, but he did not find her; and he rushed out to the people, crying out,

18The servants have failed; one woman of the Hebrews has brought shame on the house of King Nebuchadnezzar. For look—Holofernes is lying on the ground, and his head is not on him.

19But when the commanders of the army of Assyria heard the words, they tore their tunics, and their souls were greatly troubled, and there arose a very great cry and outcry in the midst of the camp.