1Now when she had ceased crying out to the God of Israel and had finished all these words,
2she rose from her prostration and called her maidservant, and she went down into the house where she used to stay on the sabbaths and on her festival days.
3And she took off the sackcloth that she had been wearing and removed the garments of her widowhood. She washed her body with water and anointed herself with rich ointment, arranged the hair of her head and put a turban on it, and put on the garments of her gladness, in which she used to adorn herself in the days of the life of her husband Manasseh.
4She put sandals on her feet and put on her anklets, bracelets, rings, earrings, and all her adornments. And she made herself very beautiful, to catch the eye of any man who might see her.
5And she gave her maidservant a flask of wine and a jar of oil, and she filled a bag with barley meal, a cake of figs, and pure bread. She wrapped up all her vessels and placed them on her.
6And they went out to the gate of the city of Bethulia and found Uzziah and the elders of the city, Chabris and Charmis, standing at it.
7When they saw her, her face was changed and her clothing altered, and they were utterly amazed at her beauty, and they said to her,
8“May the God of our fathers grant you favor and bring your undertakings to completion for the glory of the sons of Israel and the exaltation of Jerusalem.” And she worshiped God.
9And she said to them, “Command them to open the city gate for me, and I will go out to complete the matters you have spoken of with me.” And they commanded the young men to open it for her, as she had said.
10And they did so. And Judith went out, she and her maidservant with her. The men of the city watched her until she went down the mountain, until she had passed through the valley and they could no longer see her.
11They were going straight through the valley when an Assyrian outpost met her.
12They seized her and questioned her: “To whom do you belong? Where do you come from? And where are you going?” And she said, “I am a daughter of the Hebrews, and I am fleeing from them, because they are about to be given to you to be devoured.”
13“And I am coming into the presence of Holofernes, the commander-in-chief of your army, to report words of truth. I will show him a way by which he can go and take possession of all the hill country, and not one of his men will be lost—not a single soul.”
14When the men heard her words, they observed her face, and it was, in their eyes, exceedingly wonderful in its beauty. And they said to her,
15“You have saved your life by hurrying to come down into the presence of our lord. Now, go to his tent, and some of us will escort you until they hand you over to him.”
16“And when you stand before him, do not be afraid in your heart, but report what you have said, and he will treat you well.”
17And they chose from among them one hundred men and assigned them to her and her maidservant, and they led them to the tent of Holofernes.
18And a crowd gathered in the camp, for word of her arrival had spread through the tents. They came and surrounded her as she stood outside the tent of Holofernes, until they announced her to him.
19And they marveled at her beauty and, because of her, they marveled at the sons of Israel. Each one said to his neighbor, “Who can despise this people that has such women among them? For it is not good to leave one man of them alive; if they are let go, they will be able to outwit the whole world.”
20And Holofernes’s bodyguards and all his attendants came out, and they brought her into the tent.
21Holofernes was resting on his bed under his canopy, which was woven with purple and gold and emerald and precious stones.
22They announced her to him, and he came out into the front part of the tent, with silver lamps going before him.
23And when Judith came before him and his attendants, they all marveled at the beauty of her face. And she fell on her face and did obeisance to him, and his servants raised her up.
Open in the interactive reader →