Judith 14

¹Then Judith said to all the people: “Hear me, brothers. Suspend this head over our walls.

²And, as soon as the sun rises, let everyone take up his weapons and go out to attack, not going down all the way, but only to seem as if making an assault.

³Then the scouts will have to hurry to awaken their leader for the fight.

⁴And when their commanders rush into the tabernacle of Holofernes, and they find his headless body wallowing in his blood, fear will fall over them.

⁵And when you realize that they are fleeing, go after them in security, for the Lord will crush them under your feet.”

⁶Then Achior, seeing the power that the God of Israel had wrought, left behind the rituals of the Gentiles. He believed in God, and he circumcised the flesh of his foreskin, and he was placed among the people of Israel, and so were all the succession of his kindred, even until this present day.

⁷And soon, at the rising of day, they suspended the head of Holofernes above the walls, and every man took up his weapons, and they went out with a great uproar and howling.

⁸When the scouts saw this, they rushed to the tent of Holofernes.

⁹Moreover, those who were in the tent came and made a loud noise before the entrance to the bedchamber, hoping to awaken him by an attempt at skillful noise-making, not by intruding on him, so that Holofernes might be roused from sleep.

¹⁰For no one dared to knock, or to open and enter, the bedchamber of the powerful leader of the Assyrians.

¹¹But when his commanders and tribunes had arrived, with all the chiefs of the army of the king of the Assyrians, they said to the chamberlains:

¹²“Enter and awaken him, for the mice have come out of their holes, intending to challenge us to fight.”

¹³Then Vagao, entering his bedchamber, stood before the curtain, and he made a clapping noise with his hands. For he suspected that he was sleeping with Judith.

¹⁴But when, with attentiveness, he perceived no motion of anyone reclining, he approached the curtain. And lifting it up, he saw the dead body of Holofernes, without a head, lying on the ground, soaked in his own blood. He cried out with a loud voice and weeping, and he tore his garments.

¹⁵And he entered the tent of Judith and did not find her. And he ran out to the people,

¹⁶and he said: “One Hebrew woman has caused confusion in the house of Nebuchadnezzar the king. For behold, Holofernes lies on the ground, and his head is not with him.”

¹⁷Now when the leaders of the army of the Assyrians had heard this, they all tore their garments, and an intolerable fear and trembling fell over them, and their minds were greatly disturbed.

¹⁸And there was an unprecedented outcry in the midst of their camp.

Judith 14

¹Then said Judith unto them, Hear me now, my brethren, and take this head, and hang it upon the highest place of your walls.

²And so soon as the morning shall appear, and the sun shall come forth upon the earth, take ye every one his weapons, and go forth every valiant man out of the city, and set ye a captain over them, as though ye would go down into the field toward the watch of the Assyrians; but go not down.

³Then they shall take their armour, and shall go into their camp, and raise up the captains of the army of Assur, and shall run to the tent of Holofernes, but shall not find him: then fear shall fall upon them, and they shall flee before your face.

⁴So ye, and all that inhabit the coast of Israel, shall pursue them, and overthrow them as they go.

⁵But before ye do these things, call me Achior the Ammonite, that he may see and know him that despised the house of Israel, and that sent him to us as it were to his death.

⁶Then they called Achior out of the house of Ozias; and when he was come, and saw the head of Holofernes in a man’s hand in the assembly of the people, he fell down on his face, and his spirit failed.

⁷But when they had recovered him, he fell at Judith’s feet, and reverenced her, and said, Blessed art thou in all the tabernacles of Juda, and in all nations, which hearing thy name shall be astonished.

⁸Now therefore tell me all the things that thou hast done in these days. Then Judith declared unto him in the midst of the people all that she had done, from the day that she went forth until that hour she spake unto them.

⁹And when she had left off speaking, the people shouted with a loud voice, and made a joyful noise in their city.

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

¹¹And as soon as the morning arose, they hanged the head of Holofernes upon the wall, and every man took his weapons, and they went forth by bands unto the straits of the mountain.

¹²But when the Assyrians saw them, they sent to their leaders, which came to their captains and tribunes, and to every one of their rulers.

¹³So they came to Holofernes’ tent, and said to him that had the charge of all his things, Waken now our lord: for the slaves have been bold to come down against us to battle, that they may be utterly destroyed.

¹⁴Then went in Bagoas, and knocked at the door of the tent; for he thought that he had slept with Judith.

¹⁵But because none answered, he opened it, and went into the bedchamber, and found him cast upon the floor dead, and his head was taken from him.

¹⁶Therefore he cried with a loud voice, with weeping, and sighing, and a mighty cry, and rent his garments.

¹⁷After he went into the tent where Judith lodged: and when he found her not, he leaped out to the people, and cried,

¹⁸These slaves have dealt treacherously; one woman of the Hebrews hath brought shame upon the house of king Nabuchodonosor: for, behold, Holofernes lieth upon the ground without a head.

¹⁹When the captains of the Assyrians’ army heard these words, they rent their coats and their minds were wonderfully troubled, and there was a cry and a very great noise throughout the camp.