1When evening came, his servants hurried to depart. Bagoas shut the tent from the outside and dismissed the attendants from the presence of his master. And they went off to their beds, for they were all worn out because the drinking had gone on for so long.
2But Judith was left alone in the tent, with Holofernes collapsed on his bed, for he was overcome with wine.
3Judith had told her maidservant to stand outside her bedchamber and to watch for her exit as usual, for she had said she would be going out for her prayer. She had also said the same things to Bagoas.
4So everyone departed from his presence; no one was left in the bedchamber, from the least to the greatest. Then Judith, standing by his bed, said in her heart, ‘O Lord, God of all power, look in this hour upon the works of my hands for the exaltation of Jerusalem.
5For now is the time to help your inheritance and to carry out my plan for the shattering of the enemies who have risen up against us.’
6And she went to the bedpost at Holofernes’s head and took down his scimitar from it.
7Then she went to the bed, seized the hair of his head, and said, ‘Strengthen me, O God of Israel, on this day!’
8And she struck his neck twice with all her might and severed his head from him.
9Then she rolled his body off the bed and took down the canopy from its pillars. A little later she went out and gave the head of Holofernes to her attendant,
10who put it into her food bag. Then the two of them went out together, as was their custom. They passed through the camp, circled the ravine, went up the mountain of Bethulia, and came to its gates.
11And Judith called from a distance to the guards at the gates, ‘Open, open the gate! God, our God, is with us, to show his strength in Israel and his power against our enemies once more, just as he has done today!’
12When the men of the city heard her voice, they hurried down to the city gate and summoned the elders of the city.
13And everyone ran together, from the least to the greatest, for her return was unexpected. They opened the gate and welcomed them, and lighting a fire for illumination, they gathered around them.
14And she said to them in 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 Praise God, who has not withdrawn his mercy from the house of Israel, but has shattered our enemies by my hand this very night!’
15And taking the head out of the bag, she showed it to them and said, ‘Behold, the head of Holofernes, commander-in-chief of the army of Assyria! And behold, the canopy under which he lay in his drunken stupor! The Lord has struck him down by the hand of a female.’
16‘As the Lord lives, who protected me on the way I went, my face deceived him to his own destruction, yet he committed no sin with me to defile and shame me.’
17And all the people were greatly amazed, and they bowed down and worshiped God, saying with one accord, ‘Blessed are you, our God, who on this day has brought to nothing the enemies of your people!’
18And Uzziah said to her, ‘Blessed are you, daughter, by God Most High, above all women on earth! And blessed be the Lord God, who created the heavens and the earth, who guided you to strike the head of the leader of our enemies.’
19‘For the hope you have shown will not depart from the hearts of the people who remember the power of God forever.’
20‘And may God grant this to you for an everlasting honor, and may he visit you with good things, because you did not spare your life on account of the humiliation of our nation, but you averted our ruin, walking uprightly before our God.’ And all the people said, ‘Amen, amen.’
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