Judith 10

Judith Goes Down to the Camp

1When she had finished crying out to Israel’s God and had spoken all these words to the end, 2she rose from where she had fallen and summoned her maid; then she went down into the house where she used to pass the Sabbath days and her feast days. 3She stripped off the sackcloth she had on and took off the clothes of her widowhood. She washed her body with water and rubbed herself with thick perfume; she combed the hair on her head out and bound a headdress over it, and she put on the clothes of her gladness, the ones she used to wear while her husband Manasseh was alive. 4She put sandals on her feet and fastened on her anklets, her bracelets, her rings, her earrings, and every ornament she owned, and she made herself beautiful enough to deceive the eyes of any man who might see her. 5She gave her maid a skin of wine and a flask of oil; she filled a satchel with barley meal, a cake of pressed fruit, and clean loaves; she wrapped up all her dishes and loaded them on her. 6They went out to the gate of the town of Bethulia and found Uzziah posted there with the elders of the town, Chabris and Charmis. 7And when they saw her — her face transformed, her dress changed — they were astonished at her beauty, astonished beyond measure, and they said to her: 8“May the God of our fathers grant you favor and bring what you undertake to its finish, for the pride of the sons of Israel and the lifting up of Jerusalem.” 9She bowed to God and said to them: “Give the order to open the town gate for me, and I will go out to finish what you spoke of with me.” So they gave the young men orders to open it for her, just as she had said. 10They did so, and Judith went out — she, with her slave girl beside her. The men of the town kept their eyes on her until she had gone down the hill and crossed the ravine, and then they could see her no longer.

The Assyrian Patrol

11They walked straight ahead through the ravine, and an Assyrian forward guard met her. 12They took hold of her and questioned her: “Whose are you? Where are you coming from? Where are you going?” She said: “A daughter of the Hebrews is what I am, and I am fleeing from them, because they are about to be handed to you and swallowed whole. 13And I am on my way to Holofernes, commander in chief of your force, to report words of truth. I will show him, face to face, a road he can travel by and become master of the whole hill country, and not one of his men will be lost — not a body, not a breath of life.” 14When the men heard what she said and studied her face — and to them she was a marvel of beauty — they said to her: 15“You have saved your own life by coming down in a hurry to our lord’s presence. Go on now to his tent. Some of our men will walk you there until they have delivered you into his hands. 16And when you stand in front of him, do not be afraid in your heart. Report what you have told us, and he will treat you well.” 17They chose a hundred men from among themselves, set them alongside her and her maid, and brought them to the tent of Holofernes. 18A rush went through the whole camp, for word of her arrival ran from tent to tent. They came and formed a ring around her while she stood outside Holofernes’ tent, until they had announced her to him. 19They marveled at her beauty, and because of her they marveled at the Israelites, and each said to the man beside him: “Who could look down on a people that has women like this among them? It is not good to leave a single one of their men alive: turned loose, they would be able to outwit the whole earth.” 20Then the men who slept beside Holofernes came out, and all his attendants, and they led her into the tent. 21Holofernes was resting on his bed under a canopy woven of purple and gold and emerald and costly stones. 22They announced her to him, and he came out to the front of the tent with silver lamps carried before him. 23When Judith stood face to face with him and with his attendants, they all marveled at the beauty of her face. She fell on her face and bowed to him, and his slaves lifted her up.