Judith 16

1Begin the song to my God with tambourines; sing to the Lord with cymbals; fit to him a psalm and praise; exalt and call upon his name.

2For the Lord is a God who shatters wars; for in his camp, in the midst of the people, he rescued me from the hand of those pursuing me.

3Assyria came from the mountains out of the north; he came with myriads of his forces, whose multitude blocked up the wadis, and their horses covered the hills.

4He said he would set my mountains on fire, and kill my young men with the sword, and throw my nursing children to the ground, and give my infants as plunder, and despoil my virgins.

5The Lord Almighty nullified them by the hand of a woman.

6For their mighty one did not fall by the hands of young men, nor did sons of Titans strike him, nor did tall giants set upon him; but Judith daughter of Merari disabled him with the beauty of her face.

7For she took off her widow’s clothing for the lifting up of those who were afflicted in Israel,

8And she bound up her hair with a headband, and took a linen garment to deceive him.

9Her sandal captured his eye, and her beauty took his soul captive; the sword passed through his neck.

10The Persians shuddered at her boldness, and the Medes were shaken by her daring.

11Then my lowly ones shouted, and my weak ones were afraid and panicked; they raised their voice, and they were overthrown.

12The sons of maidens pierced them through, and wounded them like the children of deserters; they perished before the battle line of my Lord.

13I will sing to my God a new hymn. Lord, you are great and glorious, marvelous in strength, unsurpassable.

14Let all your creation serve you; for you spoke, and they came to be; you sent out your Spirit, and it formed them; and there is no one who will resist your voice.

15For mountains will be shaken from their foundations with the waters, and rocks will melt like wax before your face; yet to those who fear you, you are gracious.

16For every sacrifice for a pleasing aroma is a small thing, and all fat for your whole burnt offering is very little; but the one who fears the Lord is great forever.

17Woe to the nations rising up against my people; the Lord Almighty will take vengeance on them in the day of judgment, to put fire and worms in their flesh, and they will weep in pain forever.

18And when they came to Jerusalem, they worshiped God; and when the people had been purified, they offered up their burnt offerings and their freewill offerings and their gifts.

19And Judith dedicated to God all the equipment of Holofernes that the people had given her, and she gave to God as a dedicated offering the canopy that she had taken for herself from his bedchamber.

20And the people were rejoicing in Jerusalem before the sanctuary for three months, and Judith remained with them.

21After these days, each one returned to his own inheritance, and Judith went away to Bethulia and remained on her own property, and in her time she became renowned throughout all the land.

22And many desired her, but no man knew her all the days of her life, from the day when Manasseh her husband died and was added to his people.

23And she continued to prosper greatly, and she grew old in her husband's house for one hundred five years, and she set her maidservant free. Then she died in Bethulia, and they buried her in the cave of her husband Manasseh.

24And the house of Israel mourned for her seven days. And before she died, she divided her possessions among all who were nearest of kin to Manasseh her husband and to those nearest of kin of her family.

25And there was no longer anyone to terrify the sons of Israel in the days of Judith, and for many days after she died. Amen.