Judith 10

1 When she had stopped crying out to the God of Israel and had come to the end of all these words, 2 she got up from where she had fallen, and called her attendant, and went down into the house where she stayed on the Sabbath days and on her feast days. 3 She took off the sackcloth she had been wearing and put away the clothes of her widowhood, and she washed her body all over with water and anointed herself with rich ointment. She combed out the hair of her head and put a turban on it, and she put on the clothes of her gladness, the ones she used to wear while Manasseh her husband was alive. [a] 4 She took sandals for her feet, and put on her anklets and her bracelets and her rings and her earrings and all her ornaments, and she made herself very beautiful, to deceive the eyes of any man who might see her. [b] 5 And she gave her attendant a leather flask of wine and a jar of oil, and she filled a bag with barley meal and a cake of pressed figs and fine loaves; and she wrapped up all her own dishes and laid them on her.

6 Then they went out to the gate of the city of Bethulia, and they found Uzziah standing there with the elders of the city, Chabris and Charmis. 7 And when they saw her — her face changed and her clothing altered — they marveled very greatly at her beauty, and they said to her, 8 “May the God of our fathers grant you favor, and bring to completion what you have set out to do, for the boast of the children of Israel and the exaltation of Jerusalem.” [c] 9 And she bowed down to God, and said to them, “Give the order for the gate of the city to be opened to me, and I will go out to bring about the things you have spoken of with me.” And they gave the young men orders to open it for her, just as she had said. † 10 And they did so. And Judith went out, she and her serving woman with her; and the men of the city kept watching her until she had gone down the mountain, and until she had crossed the valley, and they could see her no longer. [d]

11 They went straight on through the valley, and the advance guard of the Assyrians met her. 12 They seized her and questioned her: “Whose people are you? Where have you come from? And where are you going?” And she said, “I am a daughter of the Hebrews, and I am running away from them, because they are about to be handed over to you to be devoured. 13 And I am on my way into the presence of Holofernes, the commander of your army, to report words of truth; and I will show him a way by which he can go and take all the hill country for himself, and not one of his men will be lost — not one body, not one breath of life.”

14 When the men heard her words and looked closely at her face — and in their eyes she was a wonder of beauty — they said to her, 15 “You have saved your life by hurrying down to the presence of our lord. Now go on to his tent; some of us will go with you until they have handed you over into his hands. 16 And when you stand before him, do not be afraid in your heart, but tell him just what you have told us, and he will treat you well.” 17 So they chose a hundred men from among them and sent them along with her and her attendant, and they brought them to the tent of Holofernes.

18 And there was a running together of men throughout the whole camp, for word of her coming ran through the tents; and they came and crowded around her while she stood outside the tent of Holofernes, until they had told him about her. † 19 They marveled at her beauty, and they marveled at the children of Israel because of her, and each man said to his neighbor, “Who can despise this people, that has women like these among them? It is not good to leave one man of them alive; if they are let go, they will be able to outwit the whole earth.”

20 Then the men who slept at Holofernes’ side came out, and all his servants, and they brought her into the tent. 21 Now Holofernes was resting on his bed, under a canopy woven of purple and gold and emerald and precious stones. 22 And they told him about her, and he came out to the front of his tent, with silver lamps carried before him. 23 And when Judith came before him and his servants, they all marveled at the beauty of her face. And she fell on her face and bowed down to him, and his slaves raised her up. [e]