Judith Kills Holofernes

1When it was late in the evening, the servants hurried out. Then Bagoas left and closed Holofernes' tent from the outside and ordered the servants to stay out. The meal had lasted such a long time that all the servants were exhausted and went straight to bed.

2Judith was alone with Holofernes in his tent, but he was so drunk that he was sound asleep on his bed.

3Judith's servant woman was standing outside the tent, because Judith had asked her to wait there until it was time for Judith to pray. Judith had also told Bagoas that she would be leaving camp, just as she had done the past three nights.

4Now that all the servants and guests had gone home, Judith walked over and stood by the bed and whispered, "Lord God All-Powerful, help me with what I'm about to do, so that Jerusalem will be honored. 5It is now the time for you to rescue your people Israel and carry out my plan to defeat the enemies who are attacking us."

6She walked to the bedpost nearest Holofernes' head and took down his sword that was hanging there. 7She moved closer to him and grabbed him by his hair, while praying, "Lord God of Israel, give me the strength to do this!" 8Then she struck him two times in the neck with the sword as hard as she could and cut off his head. 9She rolled his body off the bed and ripped down the mosquito net from the bedposts. Judith then left the tent and handed the head to her servant, 10who put it in the bag used for carrying food.

Judith Returns to Bethulia

Judith and her servant woman left the Assyrian camp, just as they always did when they went to pray. They walked across the valley and up the hill to the town of Bethulia.

As they got closer, 11Judith called out to the guards on duty, "Open the gate! Open the gate! Our powerful God of Israel has shown his strength today by defeating our enemies."

12Some of the men of Bethulia recognized Judith's voice, and they ran to the gate and called the town leaders. 13Then all the people of Bethulia, both young and old, hurried to the gate--no one could believe that Judith had returned safely. They opened the gate and greeted Judith and her servant woman. Someone started a bonfire, and everyone gathered around the two women.

14Judith said, "Shout praises to God for showing mercy to the people of Israel! He helped me destroy our enemies this very night."

15She then reached into the bag and pulled out the head and shouted:

This is the head of General Holofernes of the Assyrian army, and here is the mosquito net that covered his bed. The Lord used a woman to kill Holofernes while he lay there drunk. 16My beauty tricked him and led to his death, but as surely as the Lord lives, Holofernes never touched me. I was not disgraced, because the Lord protected me at all times.

17Everyone was truly amazed. They bowed down and worshiped God by saying, "We praise you, our God. You have disgraced our enemies today."

18 Uzziah said to Judith:

God Most High deserves our praise, because he has blessed you more than any other woman on earth. The same God who created heaven and earth has helped you cut off the head of our enemy's leader. 19When people tell what mighty things God has done today, they will remember how you trusted him. 20I pray that God will honor you for what you have done. May he bless you forever, because you were faithful to him and risked your own life to save our nation from ruin.

All the people agreed with Uzziah and replied, "Amen."