Judith 12

1 Then he gave orders that she be brought in to where his silver was set out, and he arranged for a place to be laid for her from his own rich food, and for her to drink his own wine. [a] 2 But Judith said, “I will not eat any of it, so that there is no stumbling block; I will be supplied out of what came with me.” [b] 3 And Holofernes said to her, “But if what you have with you runs out, where will we get more like it to give you? For there is no one of your people among us.” 4 And Judith said to him, “As your soul lives, my lord, your servant will not use up what she has with her before the Lord does by my hand what he has determined.”

5 And the servants of Holofernes brought her into the tent, and she slept until the middle of the night; and she got up toward the morning watch 6 and sent word to Holofernes, saying, “Let my lord give the order now to let your servant go out to pray.” 7 And Holofernes commanded his bodyguards not to hinder her. So she stayed in the camp three days, and she would go out at night into the ravine of Bethulia and wash herself in the camp at the spring of water. [c] 8 And as she came up, she asked the Lord, the God of Israel, to make her way straight, for the raising up of the children of his people. [d] 9 And she would come back in clean and stay in the tent until she took her food toward evening.

10 And on the fourth day Holofernes made a drinking feast for his own slaves only, and he called none of his officers to the gathering. 11 And he said to Bagoas the eunuch, who was set over everything he had, “Go now and persuade the Hebrew woman who is with you to come to us and to eat and drink with us. 12 Look, it is a shame on our face if we let such a woman go without having been with her. If we do not draw her to us, she will laugh at us.” 13 So Bagoas went out from the presence of Holofernes and came in to her and said, “Let this lovely young woman not hold back from coming to my lord, to be honored before his face, and to drink wine with us in gladness, and to become this day like one of the daughters of the sons of Assyria who stand in the house of Nebuchadnezzar.” [e] 14 And Judith said to him, “And who am I to speak against my lord? Everything that is pleasing in his eyes I will hurry to do, and it will be my gladness to the day of my death.”

15 So she got up and dressed herself in her clothing and every ornament a woman wears; and her slave came forward and spread the fleeces on the ground for her opposite Holofernes — the ones she had received from Bagoas for her daily use — so that she could lie on them and eat. [f] 16 And Judith came in and took her place, and the heart of Holofernes was overcome by her, and his soul was shaken, and he wanted very much to be with her; for he had been watching for a time to deceive her from the day he first saw her. [g] † 17 And Holofernes said to her, “Drink now, and be glad with us.” 18 And Judith said, “I will drink, my lord, because my life has been magnified in me today more than in all the days since I was born.” [h] 19 And she took and ate and drank in front of him what her slave had prepared. 20 And Holofernes was delighted with her, and he drank a great deal of wine — more than he had ever drunk on any one day since he was born.