ourselves, which we will not break.
[31] Therefore now pray thou for us, because thou art a godly woman,
and the Lord will send us rain to fill our cisterns, and we shall faint no more.
[32] Then said Judith unto
them, Hear me, and I will do a thing, which shall go throughout all generations to the children of our
nation.
[33] Ye shall stand this night in the gate, and I will go forth with my waitingwoman: and within the
days that ye have promised to deliver the city to our enemies the Lord will visit Israel by mine hand.
[34]
But enquire not ye of mine act: for I will not declare it unto you, till the things be finished that I do.
[35]
Then said Ozias and the princes unto her, Go in peace, and the Lord God be before thee, to take vengeance
on our enemies.
[36] So they returned from the tent, and went to their wards.
Jdt.9
[1] Judith fell upon her face, and put ashes upon her head, and uncovered the sackcloth wherewith she
was clothed; and about the time that the incense of that evening was offered in Jerusalem in the house
of the Lord Judith cried with a loud voice, and said,
[2] O Lord God of my father Simeon, to whom thou
gavest a sword to take vengeance of the strangers, who loosened the girdle of a maid to defile her, and
discovered the thigh to her shame, and polluted her virginity to her reproach; for thou saidst, It shall not
be so; and yet they did so:
[3] Wherefore thou gavest their rulers to be slain, so that they dyed their bed
in blood, being deceived, and smotest the servants with their lords, and the lords upon their thrones;
[4]
And hast given their wives for a prey, and their daughters to be captives, and all their spoils to be divided
among thy dear children; which were moved with thy zeal, and abhorred the pollution of their blood, and
called upon thee for aid: O God, O my God, hear me also a widow.
[5] For thou hast wrought not only
those things, but also the things which fell out before, and which ensued after; thou hast thought upon
the things which are now, and which are to come.
[6] Yea, what things thou didst determine were ready
at hand, and said, Lo, we are here: for all thy ways are prepared, and thy judgments are in thy foreknowledge.
[7]
For, behold, the Assyrians are multiplied in their power; they are exalted with horse and man; they glory
in the strength of their footmen; they trust in shield, and spear, and bow, and sling; and know not that
thou art the Lord that breakest the battles: the Lord is thy name.
[8] Throw down their strength in thy power,
and bring down their force in thy wrath: for they have purposed to defile thy sanctuary, and to pollute the
tabernacle where thy glorious name resteth and to cast down with sword the horn of thy altar.
[9] Behold
their pride, and send thy wrath upon their heads: give into mine hand, which am a widow, the power that
I have conceived.
[10] Smite by the deceit of my lips the servant with the prince, and the prince with
the servant: break down their stateliness by the hand of a woman.
[11] For thy power standeth not in
multitude nor thy might in strong men: for thou art a God of the afflicted, an helper of the oppressed, an
upholder of the weak, a protector of the forlorn, a saviour of them that are without hope.
[12] I pray thee,
I pray thee, O God of my father, and God of the inheritance of Israel, Lord of the heavens and earth,
Creator of the waters, king of every creature, hear thou my prayer:
[13] And make my speech and deceit
to be their wound and stripe, who have purposed cruel things against thy covenant, and thy hallowed
house, and against the top of Sion, and against the house of the possession of thy children.
[14] And
make every nation and tribe to acknowledge that thou art the God of all power and might, and that there
is none other that protecteth the people of Israel but thou.
Jdt.10
[1] Now after that she had ceased to cry unto the God of Israel, and bad made an end of all these words.
[2]
She rose where she had fallen down, and called her maid, and went down into the house in the which
she abode in the sabbath days, and in her feast days,
[3] And pulled off the sackcloth which she had
on, and put off the garments of her widowhood, and washed her body all over with water, and anointed
herself with precious ointment, and braided the hair of her head, and put on a tire upon it, and put on
her garments of gladness, wherewith she was clad during the life of Manasses her husband.
[4] And
she took sandals upon her feet, and put about her her bracelets, and her chains, and her rings, and her
earrings, and all her ornaments, and decked herself bravely, to allure the eyes of all men that should
see her.
[5] Then she gave her maid a bottle of wine, and a cruse of oil, and filled a bag with parched
corn, and lumps of figs, and with fine bread; so she folded all these things together, and laid them upon
her.
[6] Thus they went forth to the gate of the city of Bethulia, and found standing there Ozias and the