Judith 11: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Holofernes tells Judith not to be afraid, since he never harms anyone willing to serve Nebuchadnezzar, and asks why she has come. Judith praises Nebuchadnezzar and Holofernes, says Achior's word is true, and tells him that her people are about to eat food God forbade them and to use the offerings set apart for the priests, having sent to Jerusalem for permission. She offers to pray each night and bring him word when they have sinned, then lead him to Jerusalem unopposed. Holofernes and his servants are pleased with her words and praise her beauty and her wisdom.

Claim by Claim

1. 11:1
   • Holofernes spoke to Judith.
   • Holofernes told the woman to be of good comfort.
   • Holofernes told her not to fear in her heart.
   • Holofernes said he never hurt anyone who was willing to serve Nabuchodonosor.
   • Holofernes called Nabuchodonosor the king of all the earth.
2. 11:2
   • Holofernes said her people dwell in the mountains.
   • Holofernes said her people had set light by him.
   • Holofernes said that if they had not set light by him, he would not have lifted up his spear against them.
   • Holofernes said they had done these things to themselves.
3. 11:3
   • Holofernes told her to say why she had fled from her people.
   • Holofernes told her to say why she had come to his side.
   • Holofernes said she had come for safety.
   • Holofernes told her to be of good comfort.
   • Holofernes said she would live that night.
   • Holofernes said she would live afterward as well.
4. 11:4
   • Holofernes said no one would hurt her.
   • Holofernes said she would be treated well.
   • Holofernes said she would be treated as the servants of king Nabuchodonosor are treated.
   • Holofernes called Nabuchodonosor his lord.
5. 11:5
   • Judith spoke to Holofernes.
   • Judith asked him to receive the words of his servant.
   • Judith asked that her handmaid be allowed to speak in his presence.
   • Judith said she would tell no lie to her lord that night.
6. 11:6
   • Judith said that if he followed the words of his handmaid, God would bring the matter perfectly to pass by him.
   • Judith said her lord would not fail of his purposes.
7. 11:7
   • Judith swore by the life of Nabuchodonosor, king of all the earth.
   • Judith swore by the life of Nabuchodonosor's power.
   • Judith said Nabuchodonosor had sent Holofernes for the upholding of every living thing.
   • Judith said that not only men would serve Nabuchodonosor through Holofernes.
   • Judith said the beasts of the field would live by Holofernes' power.
   • Judith said the cattle would live by Holofernes' power.
   • Judith said the birds of the air would live by Holofernes' power.
   • Judith said this living would be under Nabuchodonosor and all his house.
8. 11:8
   • Judith said they had heard of Holofernes' wisdom.
   • Judith said they had heard of the cunning schemes of his mind.
   • Judith said it was reported in all the earth that he alone was excellent in the whole kingdom.
   • Judith said he was mighty in knowledge.
   • Judith said he was wonderful in feats of war.
9. 11:9
   • Judith referred to the speech Achior made in Holofernes' council.
   • Judith said they had heard Achior's words.
   • Judith said the men of Bethulia had saved Achior.
   • Judith said Achior declared to them everything he had spoken before Holofernes.
10. 11:10
    • Judith addressed Holofernes as lord and governor.
    • Judith told him not to disregard Achior's word.
    • Judith told him to lay Achior's word up in his heart.
    • Judith said Achior's word is true.
    • Judith said their nation would not be punished.
    • Judith said the sword could not prevail against them.
    • Judith said the exception is if they sin against their God.
11. 11:11
    • Judith said this was so that her lord would not be defeated and frustrated of his purpose.
    • Judith said death had now fallen upon them.
    • Judith said their sin had overtaken them.
    • Judith said they would provoke their God to anger by that sin.
    • Judith said this would happen whenever they did what is not fit to be done.
12. 11:12
    • Judith said their food had failed them.
    • Judith said all their water was scarce.
    • Judith said they had determined to lay hands on their cattle.
    • Judith said they purposed to consume all the things God had forbidden them to eat by his laws.
13. 11:13
    • Judith said they were resolved to spend the firstfruits of the tenths of wine and oil.
    • Judith said those things had been sanctified and reserved for the priests.
    • Judith said those priests serve in Jerusalem before the face of our God.
    • Judith said it is not lawful for any of the people even to touch those things with their hands.
14. 11:14
    • Judith said they had sent people to Jerusalem.
    • Judith said the inhabitants of Jerusalem had also done the same thing.
    • Judith said the messengers were to bring back a licence from the senate.
15. 11:15
    • Judith said that when word was brought to them they would do it at once.
    • Judith said they would be given to Holofernes to be destroyed on that same day.
16. 11:16
    • Judith said that she, his handmaid, knew all this.
    • Judith said she had fled from their presence.
    • Judith said God had sent her to work things with Holofernes.
    • Judith said all the earth would be astonished at those things.
    • Judith said everyone who heard of them would be astonished.
17. 11:17
    • Judith said his servant is religious.
    • Judith said she serves the God of heaven day and night.
    • Judith said she would remain with her lord.
    • Judith said his servant would go out by night into the valley.
    • Judith said she would pray to God.
    • Judith said God would tell her when they had committed their sins.
18. 11:18
    • Judith said she would come and show it to Holofernes.
    • Judith said he would then go forth with all his army.
    • Judith said none of them would resist him.
19. 11:19
    • Judith said she would lead him through the midst of Judea.
    • Judith said she would lead him until he came before Jerusalem.
    • Judith said she would set his throne in the midst of Jerusalem.
    • Judith said he would drive them as sheep that have no shepherd.
    • Judith said a dog would not so much as open its mouth at him.
    • Judith said these things were told her according to her foreknowledge.
    • Judith said these things were declared to her.
    • Judith said she was sent to tell Holofernes.
20. 11:20
    • Judith's words pleased Holofernes.
    • Judith's words pleased all his servants.
    • They marvelled at her wisdom.
    • They spoke.
21. 11:21
    • They said there is no such woman from one end of the earth to the other.
    • They said this was true both for beauty of face and for wisdom of words.
22. 11:22
    • Holofernes spoke to Judith.
    • Holofernes said God had done well to send her before the people.
    • Holofernes said the purpose was that strength might be in their hands.
    • Holofernes said destruction would be upon those who lightly regard his lord.
23. 11:23
    • Holofernes said she was beautiful in her countenance.
    • Holofernes said she was witty in her words.
    • Holofernes said that if she did as she had spoken, her God would be his God.
    • Holofernes said she would dwell in the house of king Nabuchodonosor.
    • Holofernes said she would be renowned throughout the whole earth.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

11:1

Throughout the book Nebuchadnezzar is presented as ruling the Assyrians from Nineveh, which does not match what is known of the historical Babylonian king of that name; the story uses him as a type of the world conqueror. The title "king of all the earth," repeated by his officers, is the kind of language normally used of a god, and Holofernes' men use it deliberately.

11:2

The King James "set light by me" is an old idiom meaning to make light of someone, to treat him as of no account. The same idiom returns in verse 22 as "lightly regard."

11:3

"Safeguard" here means safety. Holofernes believes Judith has run away to save her own life.

11:4

In 1611 "entreat thee well" meant treat you well. It did not mean beg.

11:5

"Handmaid" and "servant" are the ordinary self-lowering words a petitioner used when addressing a ruler; they do not mean Judith is offering herself as a household slave. Note also that from here on her speech is built so that almost every sentence can be heard two ways: Holofernes takes "my lord" to mean himself, while the words are equally true if "my lord" means her God. The Greek preserves the ambiguity rather than settling it, and so does the rendering.

11:7

"As Nabuchodonosor ... liveth" is the standard form of a solemn oath, which in Hebrew usage normally swore by the life of God ("as the LORD liveth"). Swearing by the life of the king, and by his "power" as if it were a second divine name, is exactly what a subject of Nebuchadnezzar would expect to hear. "All his house" means his dynasty and royal household.

11:8

"Policies" in 1611 English means cunning, shrewd stratagems, the craft of a clever schemer. It has nothing to do with policy in the modern sense of official positions or rules.

11:9

Achior is the Ammonite commander who warned Holofernes in council that Israel could not be beaten unless the people first sinned against their God. Holofernes had him tied up and left outside Bethulia to share the town's fate, and the townspeople took him in. Bethulia is the hill town blocking the pass into the Judean highlands; it is not known from any other source.

11:10

The King James "respect not his word" reads to a modern ear as "pay no attention to it," which contradicts the rest of the sentence. The Greek means "do not set his word aside," and the clause that follows, "but lay it up in thine heart, for it is true," shows that is the sense intended.

11:11

"Frustrate" here is an old past form used as an adjective, meaning thwarted or balked. The Greek of this verse is awkward and the ancient manuscripts differ over whether death has already fallen on the town or Judith is praying that it will; translations divide on the point.

11:12

The siege has forced a choice that would break the food laws. Animals killed in a panic are not drained of blood as the law required, and the flocks include beasts the law does not allow at all; eating them would be the "sin" Achior said was the only thing that could expose Israel.

11:13

The first part of each harvest, and a tenth of the wine and oil, were set aside as holy and sent to the priests at the Jerusalem temple as their income. Once set apart, such produce belonged to the sanctuary; ordinary people could not eat it or even handle it. Judith is claiming the starving town means to consume the priests' portion, a deliberate act of sacrilege.

11:14

The King James "senate" translates a Greek word for the council of elders, the standing body of leading men at Jerusalem. "Licence" here means a formal grant of permission, a ruling that in this emergency the sacred portion may be eaten.

11:17

"Religious" in 1611 English means devout and careful in religious duty, a personal quality, not simply belonging to a religion. The nightly trip out to the valley to pray is the practical point of the whole speech: it gives Judith a standing excuse to walk out through the Assyrian camp after dark.

11:19

"Sheep that have no shepherd" was a stock image for a people whose leaders have been killed or have fled. "A dog shall not so much as open his mouth at thee" is likewise proverbial for complete, unresisting quiet; the same expression is used in Exodus of the night Israel left Egypt. "Foreknowledge" here means knowledge given her in advance, not a claim about her own powers.

11:22

"Lightly regard" is the same idiom as "set light by" in verse 2: to treat someone as beneath notice.

11:23

"Witty" in 1611 English means quick-minded, clever, shrewd; it does not mean amusing. The words "thy God shall be my God" are the same pledge Ruth made to Naomi, and an ancient reader would have caught the echo; in Holofernes' mouth it is a courtier's flourish conditional on Judith's information proving good.