Judith 14

1 Then Judith said to them, “Listen to me, brothers. Take this head and hang it on the parapet of your wall. [a] 2 And when the morning light breaks and the sun comes up over the earth, each of you take up your weapons of war, and let every strong man go out of the city; and appoint a head over them, as though you were going down to the plain against the outpost of the children of Assyria — but do not go down. 3 Then they will take up their full armor and go into their camp and rouse the commanders of the army of Assyria. They will run together to the tent of Holofernes and will not find him, and fear will fall on them, and they will flee before you. 4 And you, and everyone who lives within the whole boundary of Israel, are to follow after them and lay them low along their roads. 5 But before you do any of this, call Achior the Ammonite to me, so that he may see and know the man who despised the house of Israel and sent him to us as to his death.”

6 So they called Achior out of the house of Uzziah. And when he came and saw the head of Holofernes in the hand of one man in the assembly of the people, he fell on his face, and his spirit failed him. 7 But when they had lifted him up, he fell at Judith’s feet and bowed down before her and said, “Blessed are you in every dwelling of Judah and in every nation. All who hear your name will be shaken. [b] 8 And now tell me everything you have done in these days.” And Judith told him, in the midst of the people, all that she had done, from the day she went out until the hour she was speaking to them. 9 And when she stopped speaking, the people shouted with a loud voice and raised a glad sound in their city. 10 And when Achior saw all that the God of Israel had done, he believed firmly in God, and he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, and he was joined to the house of Israel to this day.

11 When the morning came up, they hung the head of Holofernes from the wall, and every man took up his weapons, and they went out in companies to the ways up the mountain. 12 When the children of Assyria saw them, they sent word to their leaders; and those men came to the commanders and the commanders of thousands and to every one of their rulers. [c] 13 They came to the tent of Holofernes and said to the man who was set over everything he had, “Wake our lord now. The slaves have dared to come down against us to battle, so that they may be destroyed once for all.” [d]

14 So Bagoas went in and knocked at the curtain of the tent, for he supposed that he was sleeping with Judith. 15 But no one answered him. So he parted the curtain and went into the bedchamber, and he found him thrown down dead on the step, and his head had been taken from him. [e] 16 Then he cried out with a loud voice, with weeping and groaning and a strong cry, and he tore his clothes.

17 And he went into the tent where Judith had been staying and did not find her; and he leapt out to the people and shouted, 18 “The slaves have broken faith! One woman of the Hebrews has brought shame on the house of king Nebuchadnezzar. Look — Holofernes on the ground, and his head is not on him!” † 19 When the commanders of the army of Assyria heard these words, they tore their tunics, and their souls were badly shaken, and there was an outcry and a very great shouting in the middle of the camp. [f]