Judith 14

The Plan at Daybreak

1Judith said to them: “Listen to me, brothers. Take this head, and let it hang from the parapet of your wall. 2And when dawn breaks and the sun comes up over the land, let every man take up his gear of war, and let every able-bodied man go out of the town. Put a leader over them, as though you meant to go down to the plain against the Assyrian forward guard — but do not go down. 3They will snatch up their full armor and go to their own camp and wake the generals of the forces of Asshur, and they will run together to Holofernes’ tent and not find him. Terror will fall on them and they will run from your faces. 4Then you, and everyone living in all the territory of Israel, will come after them and lay them out flat along their roads. 5But before you do any of this, call Achior the Ammonite to me, so that he can see and recognize the man who made nothing of the house of Israel, the man who sent him to us as if to his death.” 6So they called Achior out of Uzziah’s house. When he came and saw Holofernes’ head in one man’s hand there in the people’s assembly, he fell face down and his spirit gave out. 7When they had picked him up, he dropped at Judith’s feet, bowed before her face, and said: “Blessed are you in every tent of Judah and in every nation; all who hear your name will be shaken. 8Now tell me everything you have done in these days.” And Judith, in the middle of the people, told him all she had done, from the moment she went out until she was speaking to them. 9When she had finished speaking, the people let out a great shout and raised a sound of gladness in their town. 10And Achior, seeing everything Israel’s God had done, believed in God deeply. He had the flesh of his foreskin circumcised and was joined to the house of Israel, and so he remains to this day.

The Assyrians Find Their Lord

11When dawn came up, they hung the head of Holofernes from the wall. Every man took up his weapons, and they went out in companies onto the ascents of the mountain. 12When the sons of Asshur saw them, they sent word to their leaders, and these went to the generals, the commanders of thousands, and every officer they had. 13They reached Holofernes’ tent and said to the man in charge of all he owned: “Wake our lord: the slaves have dared to come down on us for battle — which means they are to be wiped out to the last man.” 14Bagoas went in and rapped on the curtain of the tent, since he supposed his master was sleeping with Judith. 15When no one answered, he parted it and stepped inside; and there in the bedchamber he found him dead, thrown down on the footstool with his head taken off him. 16He cried out at the top of his voice, weeping and groaning and shouting, and he tore his clothes. 17Then he entered the tent where Judith had been lodging and did not find her. He bolted out among the people and shouted: 18“The slaves have played us false! One woman of the Hebrews has brought shame on the house of King Nebuchadnezzar! Look: Holofernes on the ground, and no head on him!” 19When the commanders of the forces of Asshur heard these words, they ripped their tunics, their souls were thrown into violent turmoil, and a shrieking and an enormous outcry went up in the middle of the camp.