Judith 16

Then Judith began to sing this song of thanksgiving in all Israel, and all the people sang this song of praise after her.

1Then Judith began to sing this thanksgiving in all Israel, and all the people sang after her this song of praise.

NoteThe chapter turns from narrative to poetry here. A woman leading a victory song while the people answer her is a set pattern in Hebrew storytelling: Miriam does it in Exodus 15, Deborah in Judges 5.

2And Judith said: Begin a song to my God with hand drums; sing to my Lord with cymbals. Set a new song to music for him. Lift him high, and call on his name.

2And Judith said, Begin unto my God with timbrels, sing unto my Lord with cymbals: tune unto him a new psalm: exalt him, and call upon his name.

NoteA "timbrel" is a small hand drum, a hoop with a skin stretched over it, the instrument women carried in victory processions. "A new psalm" does not mean a fashionable one; in the Psalms the phrase marks a song composed for a fresh act of rescue.

3For God is the one who breaks battles apart. Among the camps, in the middle of the people, he rescued me from the hands of those who were hunting me down.

3For God breaketh the battles: for among the camps in the midst of the people he hath delivered me out of the hands of them that persecuted me.

Note"Breaketh the battles" is not English idiom but a close copy of the Greek, which says God shatters wars. The picture is of an army being smashed, not of a battle being interrupted.

4Assur came out of the mountains from the north. He came with tens of thousands in his army, and that crowd was so great it blocked the rushing streams, and their horsemen covered the hills.

4Assur came out of the mountains from the north, he came with ten thousands of his army, the multitude whereof stopped the torrents, and their horsemen have covered the hills.

Note"Assur" is Asshur, that is Assyria. The poem names the invaders by the old northern empire, the standard byword for a terrifying foreign army, rather than by Holofernes' own name.

5He boasted that he would burn up my lands, and kill my young men with the sword, and smash the nursing babies against the ground, and carry off my little children as plunder and my young unmarried women as spoil.

5He bragged that he would burn up my borders, and kill my young men with the sword, and dash the sucking children against the ground, and make mine infants as a prey, and my virgins as a spoil.

NoteThis list of threats is the conventional language for total conquest, and the same items appear in the prophets and psalms. It describes what any captured town expected, not an unusual cruelty invented for this enemy.

6But the Almighty Lord brought them to nothing by the hand of a woman.

6But the Almighty Lord hath disappointed them by the hand of a woman.

Note"Disappointed" in 1611 meant thwarted or brought to nothing, not let down. The line says the Lord wrecked the Assyrian plan.

7For the mighty one did not fall at the hands of young men; the sons of the Titans did not strike him down, and no tall giants attacked him. It was Judith, the daughter of Merari, who made him weak with the beauty of her face.

7For the mighty one did not fall by the young men, neither did the sons of the Titans smite him, nor high giants set upon him: but Judith the daughter of Merari weakened him with the beauty of her countenance.

NoteThe "sons of the Titans" and the "high giants" are the legendary giant warriors of ancient story; the Greek translators of the Hebrew scriptures used "Titans", a word out of Greek myth, for such figures. The force of the line is the contrast: no monstrous champion brought Holofernes down.

8For she took off the clothes she wore as a widow, so that those who were being crushed in Israel might be lifted up. She rubbed her face with scented oil, tied her hair up in a headband, and put on a linen dress to trick him.

8For she put off the garment of her widowhood for the exaltation of those that were oppressed in Israel, and anointed her face with ointment, and bound her hair in a tire, and took a linen garment to deceive him.

NoteA widow wore distinctive clothing that marked her status and kept her apart from ordinary social life, so taking it off was a public act, not just a change of dress. A "tire" is a headdress or band for binding up the hair, from the same root as the word "attire".

9Her sandals dazzled his eyes, her beauty took his mind prisoner, and the curved sword passed through his neck.

9Her sandals ravished his eyes, her beauty took his mind prisoner, and the fauchion passed through his neck.

NoteThe sandals are singled out because they were part of the finery Judith put on before going to the enemy camp. "Ravished his eyes" uses the older sense of the word: seized or carried away. A "fauchion" (falchion) is a short curved sword with a broad, heavy blade.

10The Persians shook at how daring she was, and the Medes were shaken at how bold she was.

10The Persians quaked at her boldness, and the Medes were daunted at her hardiness.

NotePersia and Media were the great powers east of Assyria. The book handles history freely, and here the names stand for the most formidable armies its audience could name.

11Then my suffering people shouted for joy, and my weak ones cried out loud; but they were struck with terror. These lifted up their voices, but they were overthrown.

11Then my afflicted shouted for joy, and my weak ones cried aloud; but they were astonished: these lifted up their voices, but they were overthrown.

NoteThis verse is obscure in the Greek, and the King James wording makes it harder to follow. The sense is probably that the Israelites shouted while the enemy was struck with terror, so that the ones "astonished" and "overthrown" are the invaders rather than the weak ones who cried out. The rendering leaves the ambiguity in place.

12The sons of the slave girls ran them through and wounded them like the children of runaways. They died in the battle of the Lord.

12The sons of the damsels have pierced them through, and wounded them as fugatives’ children: they perished by the battle of the Lord.

Note"The sons of the damsels" means the children of slave women, the lowest-ranking men in the community and the least likely soldiers; that is the sting of the line. Being wounded "as fugatives' children" (fugitives' children) means being cut down like the offspring of deserters, people with no one to defend them.

13I will sing a new song to the Lord. Lord, you are great and full of glory, amazing in strength, and no one can defeat you.

13I will sing unto the Lord a new song: O Lord, thou art great and glorious, wonderful in strength, and invincible.

14Let every creature serve you, for you spoke and they were made. You sent out your spirit, and it created them, and there is no one who can stand against your voice.

14Let all creatures serve thee: for thou spakest, and they were made, thou didst send forth thy spirit, and it created them, and there is none that can resist thy voice.

15For the mountains will be shaken off their foundations along with the waters, and the rocks will melt like wax when you come near. Yet you are merciful to those who fear you.

15For the mountains shall be moved from their foundations with the waters, the rocks shall melt as wax at thy presence: yet thou art merciful to them that fear thee.

Note"Fear" here carries the older, wider sense of awe and reverence toward God, not fright.

16For every sacrifice is too small to make a sweet smell for you, and all the fat is not enough for a burnt offering to you. But the person who fears the Lord is great at all times.

16For all sacrifice is too little for a sweet savour unto thee, and all the fat is not sufficient for thy burnt offering: but he that feareth the Lord is great at all times.

NoteUnder the sacrificial law the fat was the portion burned for God, and the smoke going up from an offering was described as a "sweet savour", a pleasing smell. A burnt offering was one burned up whole rather than shared out as a meal. The line says no quantity of either could ever be enough.

17Trouble is coming to the nations that rise up against my people! The Lord Almighty will pay them back on the day of judgment, putting fire and worms in their flesh. They will feel them and will weep forever.

17Woe to the nations that rise up against my kindred! the Lord Almighty will take vengeance of them in the day of judgment, in putting fire and worms in their flesh; and they shall feel them, and weep for ever.

NoteFire and worms in the flesh is borrowed imagery from Isaiah 66:24, where the bodies of the defeated lie unburied. "Take vengeance of them" is simply older English for take vengeance on them.

18Now as soon as they came into Jerusalem, they worshiped the Lord. As soon as the people had been made clean, they offered their burnt offerings, their freely given offerings, and their gifts.

18Now as soon as they entered into Jerusalem, they worshipped the Lord; and as soon as the people were purified, they offered their burnt offerings, and their free offerings, and their gifts.

NoteContact with the dead and with a battlefield made a person ritually unclean, unable to take part in worship until a set process of washing and waiting was complete. A "free offering" is a freewill offering, one given voluntarily rather than required by law.

19Judith also gave to the Lord all the goods of Holofernes that the people had given her, and she gave the canopy, which she had taken out of his bedroom, as a gift to the Lord.

19Judith also dedicated all the stuff of Holofernes, which the people had given her, and gave the canopy, which she had taken out of his bedchamber, for a gift unto the Lord.

NoteThe "canopy" is the netted curtain hung over Holofernes' bed, which Judith carried away with his head. Handing captured enemy goods over to the sanctuary instead of keeping them was the customary way of disposing of spoil taken in a war fought as a holy war. "Stuff" in 1611 means goods or belongings generally, with no dismissive tone.

20So the people went on feasting in Jerusalem in front of the sanctuary for three months, and Judith stayed with them.

20So the people continued feasting in Jerusalem before the sanctuary for the space of three months and Judith remained with them.

NoteThe "sanctuary" is the temple in Jerusalem. Three months is an extraordinarily long festival; the length is the measure of how large a deliverance the story claims.

21After that time, everyone went back to his own family land. Judith went to Bethulia and stayed on her own property, and in her lifetime she was honored throughout the whole country.

21After this time every one returned to his own inheritance, and Judith went to Bethulia, and remained in her own possession, and was in her time honourable in all the country.

NoteAn "inheritance" is the plot of family land each household held and handed down. Israelite land was not thought of as property freely bought and sold but as an allotment permanently attached to a family line.

22Many men wanted her, but no man had sexual relations with her for the rest of her life, from the time her husband Manasses died and was gathered to his people.

22And many desired her, but none knew her all the days of her life, after that Manasses her husband was dead, and was gathered to his people.

Note"Knew her" is the standard King James way of referring to sexual relations. "Gathered to his people" is an old idiom for dying and being laid in the family tomb alongside ancestors who had died before.

23But she grew greater and greater in honor, and she grew old in her husband's house, until she was a hundred and five years old. She set her servant woman free. Then she died in Bethulia, and they buried her in the cave of her husband Manasses.

23But she increased more and more in honour, and waxed old in her husband’s house, being an hundred and five years old, and made her maid free; so she died in Bethulia: and they buried her in the cave of her husband Manasses.

NoteFreeing a servant was an act of honor and reward; a slave had no automatic right to release, so this was Judith's gift to her. Burial "in the cave" means the family tomb, a rock chamber in which the dead of one household were laid together over generations.

24The house of Israel mourned for her seven days. Before she died, she had divided her goods among all the closest relatives of her husband Manasses and among her own closest relatives.

24And the house of Israel lamented her seven days: and before she died, she did distribute her goods to all them that were nearest of kindred to Manasses her husband, and to them that were the nearest of her kindred.

NoteSeven days was the full formal mourning period for a person of standing. A widow with no children had no heir of her own, so her property went back to her husband's nearest relatives and to her own kin; dividing it herself before she died let her decide the shares.

25And there was no one who made the children of Israel afraid any more in the days of Judith, or for a long time after her death.

25And there was none that made the children of Israel any more afraid in the days of Judith, nor a long time after her death.

NoteThe closing line echoes the formula that ends each episode in the book of Judges, where the land "had rest" for a stated stretch of years after a rescuer's victory.