The Holy Bible – Knox Translation
The Book of Judith
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Chapter 16
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
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Then Judith herself sang to the Lord, and this was Judith’s song:
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Strike up, tambour, and cymbals beat in the Lord’s honour, sound a fresh song of praise; high enthrone him, call aloud upon his name!
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What power divine crushes the enemy, but the Lord’s great name?
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Here in the midst of his people he lies encamped; come what enemy may, he grants deliverance.

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Came the Assyrian from the northern hills in his great strength, the valleys choked with his marching columns, the mountain glens black with his horses;
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to send fire through our country-side, put our warriors to the sword, mark down our children for slavery, our maidens for spoil.
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Great despite the Lord Almighty did him, that he should fall into a woman’s power for his death-blow.
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Not by warriors’ hands the tyrant fell; not giants smote him, not heroes of the old time barred his path; it was Judith, Merari’s daughter, Judith’s fair face that was his undoing.
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Laid aside, now, her widow’s weeds; festal her array must be; a feast waits for the sons of Israel.
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Ointment, there, for her cheeks, a band for her straying locks, a robe new-wrought to ensnare him!
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Her very sandals thralled his eyes; he lay there, his heart beauty’s prisoner, while the sharp steel pierced his neck through.
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Stood Persian, stood Mede aghast at the boldness of her resolve;
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loud rang the cry of the Assyrian camp, when the hard-pressed defenders sallied out against them, parched with thirst!
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Slaves, did they call us? But we gave them cold steel; cut them down where, like slaves, they ran; one glance from the Lord our God, and the battle was lost.

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A hymn, a new hymn, sing we to the Lord our God.
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Great and glorious thou art, Lord Adonai; there is no outmatching thy wondrous power.
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Let all thy creatures do thee service; were they not made at thy word, fashioned by a breath from thee? When thou commandest, none but must obey.
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Rain-swept, the mountains quake from their depths, the rocks melt like wax at thy coming.
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Yet great, by thy measure, are those that fear thee, in all their doings great.
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Woe to the nations that levy war on my people; when the time comes for judgement, the Lord Almighty will execute vengeance on them; he will not spare.
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Their flesh the fire shall scorch, the worm shall devour; lament they must and bear their pain for ever.

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And now, their victory won, all went to Jerusalem to worship the Lord there; once they were cleansed of defilement, burnt-sacrifice was done, vow and promise were paid by all alike.
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As for Judith, she kept none of Holofernes’ spoil, that the people had given her, nor the canopy she had carried off from his banqueting-room, for herself; she offered them up as a thing forfeit.
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High festival the people kept, there before the sanctuary; for three whole months they solemnized their victory, and Judith among them.
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Then they dispersed to their homes, and Judith, back at Bethulia, was held in great renown; in all Israel, none so honoured as she.
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So well, in her, did chastity mate with valour; once her husband was dead, she never had knowledge of man again.
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When she left her house on festival days, great reverence was hers indeed.
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And for the serving-maid, Judith let her go free.

There, then, Judith lived on in her husband’s dwelling-place, and a hundred and five years had passed before she was laid to rest at his side at Bethulia;
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and the whole people bewailed her for seven days together.
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All the while she lived, and long after her death, was never enemy that disturbed the peace of Israel.
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In the Hebrew calendar, a day of rejoicing commemorates her victory; in such honour have the Jews held it from that day to this.