Judith 14

¹ Judith said, ‘Listen to me, brothers. Take this head and hang it on your battlements.

² ‘When morning comes and the sun is up, let every man take his arms and every able-bodied man leave the town. Appoint a leader for these, as if you meant to march down to the plain against the Assyrian advance post. But you must not do this.

³ The Assyrians will gather up their equipment, make for their camp and wake up their commanders; they in turn will rush to the tent of Holofernes and not be able to find him. They will then be seized with panic and flee at your advance.

⁴ All you and the others who live in the territory of Israel will have to do is to give chase and slaughter them as they retreat.

⁵ ‘But before you do this, call me Achior the Ammonite for him to see the man who thought so meanly of the House of Israel and recognise this as the man who sent him to us as a man already doomed to die.’ (13)[*a]

⁶ So they had Achior brought from the house of Uzziah. No sooner had he arrived and seen the head of Holofernes held by a member of the people’s assembly than he fell down on his face in a faint.

⁷ They lifted him up. He then threw himself at the feet of Judith, and prostrate before her exclaimed: ‘May you be blessed in all the tents of Judah and in every nation; at the sound of your name men will be seized with dread.

⁸ ‘Now tell me exactly what you have been doing in these past few days.’ And surrounded by all the people Judith told him everything she had done from the day she left Bethulia to the moment when she was speaking.

⁹ When she came to the end, the people cheered at the tops of their voices until the town echoed. (14)

¹⁰ Achior, recognising the mighty works of the God of Israel, believed ardently in him and, accepting circumcision, was incorporated in the House of Israel forever.

¹¹ At daybreak they hung the head of Holofernes on the ramparts. Every man took his arms and they all went out in groups to the slopes of the mountain.

¹² Seeing this, the Assyrians sent word to their leaders, who in turn reported to the generals, the captains of thousands and all the other officers;

¹³ and these in their turn reported to the tent of Holofernes. ‘Rouse our master,’ they said to his major-domo ‘these slaves have dared to march down on us to attack and to be wiped out to a man!’

¹⁴ Bagoas went inside and clapped his hands in front of the curtain dividing the tent, thinking that Holofernes was sleeping with Judith.

¹⁵ But as no one seemed to hear, he drew the curtain and went into the bedroom, to find him thrown down dead on the threshold and the head gone from his body.

¹⁶ He gave a great shout, wept, sobbed, shrieked and rent his clothes.

¹⁷ He then went into the tent which Judith had occupied and could not find her either. Then, rushing out to the men, he shouted,

¹⁸ ‘Those slaves have duped us! One Hebrew woman has brought shame on the House of Nebuchadnezzar. Holofernes is lying dead on the ground, with his head cut off!’

¹⁹ When they heard this, the leaders of the Assyrian army tore their tunics in consternation, and the camp rang with their wild cries and their shouting.