Judith 8

At that time Judith heard about this. She was the daughter of Merari, son of Ox, son of Joseph, son of Ozel, son of Elcia, son of Ananias, son of Gedeon, son of Raphaim. Raphaim was the son of Acitho, son of Eliu, son of Eliab, son of Nathanael, son of Samael, son of Salasadal, son of Israel.

1Now at that time Judith heard thereof, which was the daughter of Merari, the son of Ox, the son of Joseph, the son of Ozel, the son of Elcia, the son of Ananias, the son of Gedeon, the son of Raphaim, the son of Acitho, the son of Eliu, the son of Eliab, the son of Nathanael, the son of Samael, the son of Salasadal, the son of Israel.

NoteThe list names fifteen ancestors, ending with Israel, that is, Jacob, from whom all twelve tribes descend. A genealogy like this was how an ancient reader placed a person: before we learn anything else about Judith, we are told she is an Israelite of long and traceable stock. Her name means simply "Jewish woman" or "woman of Judah." The spellings vary between manuscripts, which is why other translations read Oziel, Elkiah, Ahitub and Salamiel where the King James has Ozel, Elcia, Acitho and Samael.

2Her husband was Manasses, who belonged to her own tribe and family. He died during the barley harvest.

2And Manasses was her husband, of her tribe and kindred, who died in the barley harvest.

NoteMarrying inside your own tribe and clan kept inherited land in the family, and it is mentioned here as a mark of a careful, traditional household. Barley ripened before wheat, so barley harvest fell in late spring, when the days were already hot.

3He was standing over the men who were tying up bundles of grain in the field when the heat struck his head. He fell on his bed and died in the city of Bethulia. They buried him with his ancestors in the field between Dothaim and Balamo.

3For as he stood overseeing them that bound sheaves in the field, the heat came upon his head, and he fell on his bed, and died in the city of Bethulia: and they buried him with his fathers in the field between Dothaim and Balamo.

NoteCut grain was tied into sheaves, bundles stood up in the field to dry. What killed Manasses is what we would call sunstroke. "Buried him with his fathers" means in the family burial plot, the normal and honorable end; to be buried away from your kin, or not at all, was a disgrace. Dothaim and Balamo are towns in the hill country north of Jerusalem. Bethulia itself has never been matched to any known site.

4So Judith lived in her house as a widow for three years and four months.

4So Judith was a widow in her house three years and four months.

NoteThree years and four months as a widow who has not remarried. A widow with no husband and no children mentioned had no natural protector in that society, which is why the following verses take care to say that she ran her own property and that no one spoke against her.

5She made herself a tent on the roof of her house and put sackcloth around her waist. She wore the clothes of a widow.

5And she made her a tent upon the top of her house, and put on sackcloth upon her loins and ware her widow’s apparel.

NoteRoofs were flat and used as living space, for sleeping, drying food and sitting in the cool of the evening. A tent pitched up there gave her a room set apart from the rest of the household. Sackcloth was a coarse cloth of goat hair worn next to the skin as a sign of grief; it was meant to be uncomfortable. A widow's clothing was a recognizable dress, so that anyone who met her knew her situation without being told.

6She fasted every day of her widowhood, except for the days before the Sabbaths and the Sabbaths themselves, the days before the new moons and the new moons themselves, and the feasts and joyful days of the house of Israel.

6And she fasted all the days of her widowhood, save the eves of the sabbaths, and the sabbaths, and the eves of the new moons, and the new moons and the feasts and solemn days of the house of Israel.

NoteFasting meant going without food, normally from dawn until dark. Jewish law required only a handful of fast days in the year, so fasting every day for more than three years is extreme private devotion. The Sabbath, from Friday evening to Saturday evening, and the new moon, the first day of each lunar month, were days of celebration on which fasting was not allowed. The "eves" are the days immediately before them, counted as part of the festivity.

7She had a lovely face and was very beautiful to look at. Her husband Manasses had left her gold and silver, male and female servants, cattle, and lands, and she stayed on those lands.

7She was also of a goodly countenance, and very beautiful to behold: and her husband Manasses had left her gold, and silver, and menservants and maidservants, and cattle, and lands; and she remained upon them.

NoteThe estate is described as left to her and still in her hands. A woman holding and managing property on this scale in her own right, rather than passing it to her husband's male relatives, was unusual enough to be worth stating.

8No one spoke a bad word about her, for she feared God deeply.

8And there was none that gave her an ill word; as she feared God greatly.

Note"She feared God" is not about being frightened. In the Hebrew and Greek scriptures the phrase means reverence shown in the way a person lives, roughly what we would call being devout.

9She heard the angry words the people spoke against the governor, because they were fainting from lack of water. Judith had heard everything Ozias said to them, and how he had sworn to hand the city over to the Assyrians after five days.

9Now when she heard the evil words of the people against the governor, that they fainted for lack of water; for Judith had heard all the words that Ozias had spoken unto them, and that he had sworn to deliver the city unto the Assyrians after five days;

NoteThe governor is Ozias, one of the three magistrates of Bethulia. In the previous chapter the Assyrian army besieging the town seized the springs outside the walls and cut off its water supply; when the people turned on their leaders, Ozias swore that if God had not rescued the town within five days he would surrender it.

10So she sent her maid, who was in charge of everything she owned, to call Ozias, Chabris and Charmis, the elders of the city.

10Then she sent her waitingwoman, that had the government of all things that she had, to call Ozias and Chabris and Charmis, the ancients of the city.

NoteHer maid is not a household drudge. She runs Judith's entire estate, a post we would call steward or business manager, and she is the one other person Judith takes into her confidence for the rest of the story. The King James "ancients" means elders, the senior men who governed the town; it does not mean they were unusually old.

11They came to her, and she said to them, "Listen to me now, you rulers of the people of Bethulia. What you said in front of the people today is not right. You have sworn an oath between God and yourselves, and have promised to hand the city over to our enemies unless the Lord turns and helps you within these days.

11And they came unto her, and she said unto them, Hear me now, O ye governors of the inhabitants of Bethulia: for your words that ye have spoken before the people this day are not right, touching this oath which ye made and pronounced between God and you, and have promised to deliver the city to our enemies, unless within these days the Lord turn to help you.

NoteAn oath sworn "between God and you" puts God forward as both witness and enforcer: if the oath is broken, he is the one who acts on it. That is why Judith treats the five day deadline as dangerous in itself, and why in verse 30 the elders say they cannot simply drop it.

12Who do you think you are, that you have put God to the test today and stand in God's place among human beings?

12And now who are ye that have tempted God this day, and stand instead of God among the children of men?

13Go ahead and test the Lord Almighty: you will never learn a thing.

13And now try the Lord Almighty, but ye shall never know any thing.

Note"Try" in the King James means put to the test, not attempt. Judith is turning the elders' own conduct back on them: they have set God a deadline as though he were something they could test, and the one thing they will get from it is nothing.

14You cannot reach the bottom of a person's heart, and you cannot make out what he is thinking. So how can you search out God, who made all these things, and know his mind, or understand what he means to do? No, my brothers and sisters, do not make the Lord our God angry.

14For ye cannot find the depth of the heart of man, neither can ye perceive the things that he thinketh: then how can ye search out God, that hath made all these things, and know his mind, or comprehend his purpose? Nay, my brethren, provoke not the Lord our God to anger.

15For if he has not chosen to help us within these five days, he has the power to protect us whenever he wishes, on any day at all, or to destroy us right in front of our enemies.

15For if he will not help us within these five days, he hath power to defend us when he will, even every day, or to destroy us before our enemies.

16Do not try to hold the plans of the Lord our God as a pledge. God is not like a human being, who can be threatened; he is not like a mortal man, who can be won over by pleading.

16Do not bind the counsels of the Lord our God: for God is not as man, that he may be threatened; neither is he as the son of man, that he should be wavering.

NoteThe image comes from lending. To bind or pledge something is to hold it as security against a debt, the way a lender keeps a pledge until he is paid. Judith says the elders are treating God's plans as if they could be pinned down and held to terms. "Son of man" is a stock phrase meaning simply a human being, and the Greek behind "wavering" means to be talked round by coaxing.

17So let us wait for the rescue that comes from him, and call on him to help us. He will hear our voice, if it pleases him.

17Therefore let us wait for salvation of him, and call upon him to help us, and he will hear our voice, if it please him.

18In our own time no one has arisen, and there is no one now in these days (no tribe, no family, no people, no city among us) who worships gods made by human hands, as there were in earlier times.

18For there arose none in our age, neither is there any now in these days neither tribe, nor family, nor people, nor city among us, which worship gods made with hands, as hath been aforetime.

Note"Gods made with hands" means carved or cast images. "As hath been aforetime" points back to the centuries before the exile, when Israelites did worship such images. The argument turns on the claim that this generation has stopped doing so.

19That is why our ancestors were handed over to the sword and to plunder, and suffered a great fall in front of our enemies.

19For the which cause our fathers were given to the sword, and for a spoil, and had a great fall before our enemies.

NoteThe reference is to the conquest of Judah by Babylon and the deportation that followed, which this speech treats as the standing example of what the worship of images cost the nation.

20But we know no other god, so we trust that he will not look down on us, or on anyone of our nation.

20But we know none other god, therefore we trust that he will not despise us, nor any of our nation.

21For if we are captured, all Judea will be laid waste and our holy place will be looted, and he will hold us answerable for its being defiled.

21For if we be taken so, all Judea shall lie waste, and our sanctuary shall be spoiled; and he will require the profanation thereof at our mouth.

NoteThe "sanctuary" is the temple in Jerusalem, which this book presents as recently restored after the exile, with Bethulia guarding the road to it. "Require the profanation thereof at our mouth" uses the old legal idiom of blood guilt: to require something at a person's mouth or hand is to charge the responsibility to them and exact the penalty from them.

22The killing of our own people, the carrying off of the country, and the emptying of the land we inherited: he will turn all of it back on our own heads among the other nations, wherever we are held as slaves. We will be something offensive and shameful to those who own us.

22And the slaughter of our brethren, and the captivity of the country, and the desolation of our inheritance, will he turn upon our heads among the Gentiles, wheresoever we shall be in bondage; and we shall be an offence and a reproach to all them that possess us.

Note"Gentiles" is the standard King James word for all nations other than Israel. It carries no insult in itself and simply means foreigners. "An offence and a reproach" means an object of disgust and a byword, the sort of people others point to as a warning.

23Our slavery will not be turned into kind treatment; instead the Lord our God will turn it into disgrace.

23For our servitude shall not be directed to favour: but the Lord our God shall turn it to dishonour.

NoteThis sentence is compressed in the Greek and hard to construe, which is why translations differ. The sense appears to be that being enslaved would not even win them the mild treatment a beaten people might hope for, but would be counted against them as disgrace.

24So now, my brothers and sisters, let us set an example for our people, because their lives depend on us, and the holy place, the house, and the altar rest on us.

24Now therefore, O brethren, let us shew an example to our brethren, because their hearts depend upon us, and the sanctuary, and the house, and the altar, rest upon us.

Note"The house" and "the altar" both belong to the temple: the building itself, and the stone altar standing in its courtyard where offerings were burned. The claim that everything rests on Bethulia is geographical as much as anything, since the town sits between the Assyrian army and Jerusalem.

25On top of all this, let us thank the Lord our God, who tests us just as he tested our ancestors.

25Moreover let us give thanks to the Lord our God, which trieth us, even as he did our fathers.

Note"Trieth" means tests, in the sense of assaying metal for purity rather than putting someone on trial. The same word carries through verses 26 and 27.

26Remember what he did to Abraham, and how he tested Isaac, and what happened to Jacob in Mesopotamia of Syria, when he was keeping the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother.

26Remember what things he did to Abraham, and how he tried Isaac, and what happened to Jacob in Mesopotamia of Syria, when he kept the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother.

NoteAbraham was told to leave his country for a land he had not seen, and later to sacrifice his son Isaac, who is the one bound on the altar in that story. Jacob, fleeing his brother, spent twenty years in Mesopotamia herding sheep for his uncle Laban, who cheated him repeatedly over wages and over which daughter he married. "Mesopotamia of Syria" is the region around Harran in the upper Euphrates valley, called Paddan-aram in Genesis. The episodes are in Genesis chapters 12 to 31.

27For he has not tested us in the fire the way he tested them, to search out their hearts, and he has not taken revenge on us. The Lord whips those who come near him, to correct them."

27For he hath not tried us in the fire, as he did them, for the examination of their hearts, neither hath he taken vengeance on us: but the Lord doth scourge them that come near unto him, to admonish them.

NoteRefiners melted silver and gold in a furnace so that the impurities burned away, and the image of testing "in the fire" comes from that trade. "Scourge" means to whip. The whipping in view here is the correction a head of a household gives, meant to instruct rather than to punish for its own sake.

28Then Ozias said to her, "Everything you have said, you have said with a good heart, and no one can argue against your words.

28Then said Ozias to her, All that thou hast spoken hast thou spoken with a good heart, and there is none that may gainsay thy words.

Note"Gainsay" in the King James means to contradict or speak against. The "gain" in it is an old word meaning against, unrelated to gaining something.

29This is not the first day your wisdom has shown itself. From the beginning of your life all the people have known how well you understand things, because the bent of your heart is good.

29For this is not the first day wherein thy wisdom is manifested; but from the beginning of thy days all the people have known thy understanding, because the disposition of thine heart is good.

30But the people were terribly thirsty, and they forced us to do what we told them we would do, and to bind ourselves with an oath that we will not break.

30But the people were very thirsty, and compelled us to do unto them as we have spoken, and to bring an oath upon ourselves, which we will not break.

NoteThe difficulty for the elders is that the oath was sworn in God's name. Breaking such an oath was itself understood as an offense against God, so they could not quietly set it aside once the panic had passed.

31So now pray for us, because you are a godly woman, and the Lord will send us rain to fill our cisterns, and we will faint no more."

31Therefore 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.

NoteCisterns were pits cut into the rock and lined with plaster, which caught rainwater from the roofs and streets and stored it through the dry season. A besieged town lived off them once its outside springs were taken, and in this region effectively no rain falls between spring and autumn.

32Then Judith said to them, "Listen to me. I am going to do something that will be told to the children of our nation for all generations to come.

32Then said Judith unto them, Hear me, and I will do a thing, which shall go throughout all generations to the children of our nation.

33Tonight you are to stand at the gate, and I will go out with my maid. Within the days after which you promised to hand the city over to our enemies, the Lord will come to Israel's help by my hand.

33Ye 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.

Note"By mine hand" means through me, by my agency. "Stand this night in the gate" means post themselves at the town gate to open it for her and bar it again behind her; the gate of a walled town under siege was kept shut and guarded around the clock.

34But do not ask about what I am doing. I will not tell you until the things I am doing are finished."

34But enquire not ye of mine act: for I will not declare it unto you, till the things be finished that I do.

35Then Ozias and the leaders said to her, "Go in peace, and may the Lord God go ahead of you, to take revenge on our enemies."

35Then said Ozias and the princes unto her, Go in peace, and the Lord God be before thee, to take vengeance on our enemies.

Note"The Lord God be before thee" is a send-off for a journey: may he go ahead of you on the road, as guide and advance guard.

36So they came back down from the tent and went to their posts.

36So they returned from the tent, and went to their wards.

Note"Wards" means guard posts, the stations the watch kept on the wall. The tent they come away from is Judith's shelter on her roof.