1Then Judith said: “Begin the song to my God with tambourines; sing to my Lord with cymbals. Compose for him a psalm and a song of praise; exalt and call upon his name.
2For God is a shatterer of wars; the Lord is his name. For he pitched his camp among his people and delivered me from the hand of my pursuers.
3Asshur came from the mountains of the north; he came with myriads of his forces. Their multitude blocked the wadis, and their cavalry covered the hills.
4He said he would burn my mountains, kill my young men with the sword, dash my nursing infants to the ground, give my little children as plunder, and take my virgins as spoil.
5The Lord Almighty thwarted 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 down, nor did tall giants attack him; but Judith, daughter of Merari, paralyzed him with the beauty of her face.
7For she took off her widow’s garment to exalt the afflicted in Israel; she anointed her face with perfume,
8bound up her hair in a turban, and put on a linen garment to deceive him.
9Her sandal captivated his eye, and her beauty took his soul captive; the scimitar passed through his neck.
10Persians shuddered at her daring, and Medes were daunted by her boldness.
11Then my lowly ones raised a war cry, and my weak ones were afraid and terrified; they raised their voice and were routed.
12The sons of young girls pierced them through, and wounded them like the children of runaways; they perished before the battle line of my Lord.
13I will sing a new hymn to my God. Lord, you are great and glorious, wondrous in strength, and unconquerable.
14Let all your creation serve you, for you spoke, and they came into being; you sent forth your spirit, and it built them up. And there is no one who can resist your voice.
15For mountains will be shaken from their foundations with the waters, and rocks will melt like wax before your face. Yet you are ever merciful to those who fear you.
16For every sacrifice is a small thing for a fragrant aroma, and all fat is a trifle for a burnt offering to you; but the one who fears the Lord is great forever.
17Woe to the nations that rise up against my people! The Lord Almighty will take vengeance on them on the day of judgment, putting fire and worms into their flesh, and they will weep in pain forever.”
18When they arrived in Jerusalem, they worshiped God. And as soon as the people were purified, they offered up their burnt offerings, their freewill offerings, and their gifts.
19And Judith dedicated all the belongings of Holofernes that the people had given her; and the canopy, which she had taken for herself from his bedchamber, she gave as a dedicated offering to God.
20And the people celebrated in Jerusalem before the sanctuary for three months, and Judith remained with them.
21After these days, everyone departed to his own inheritance. Judith went to Bethulia and stayed on her property, and in her time she became famous throughout all the land.
22Many desired her, but no man knew her all the days of her life, from the day her husband Manasseh died and was gathered to his people.
23She continued to grow in greatness, and she grew old in her husband’s house, living to be one hundred and five years old. She set her maidservant free. Then she died in Bethulia, and they buried her in the cave of her husband Manasseh.
24The house of Israel mourned for her for seven days. Before she died, she divided her property among all the nearest relatives of her husband Manasseh and the nearest relatives of her own family.
25And there was no one to terrify the sons of Israel in the days of Judith, nor for many days after she died. Amen.
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