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Jdt 16:1 Then Judith began
to sing this thanksgiving in all Israel, and all the people sang after her
this song of praise.
Jdt 16:2 And 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.
Jdt 16:3 For 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.
Jdt 16:4 Assur 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.
Jdt 16:5 He 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.
Jdt 16:6 But the Almighty Lord hath disappointed them by the hand of a
woman.
Jdt 16:7 For 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.
Jdt 16:8 For 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.
Jdt 16:9 Her sandals ravished his eyes, her beauty took his mind prisoner,
and the fauchion passed through his neck.
Jdt 16:10 The Persians quaked at her boldness, and the Medes were daunted
at her hardiness.
Jdt 16:11 Then my afflicted shouted for joy, and my weak ones cried aloud;
but they were astonished: these lifted up their voices, but they were
overthrown.
Jdt 16:12 The sons of the damsels have pierced them through, and wounded
them as fugatives' children: they perished by the battle of the Lord.
Jdt 16:13 I will sing unto the Lord a new song: O Lord, thou art great and
glorious, wonderful in strength, and invincible.
Jdt 16:14 Let 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.
Jdt 16:15 For 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.
Jdt 16:16 For 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.
Jdt 16:17 Woe 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.
Jdt 16:18 Now 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.
Jdt 16:19 Judith 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.
Jdt 16:20 So the people continued feasting in Jerusalem before the
sanctuary for the space of three months and Judith remained with them.
Jdt 16:21 After 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.
Jdt 16:22 And 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.
Jdt 16:23 But 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.
Jdt 16:24 And 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.
Jdt 16:25 And there was none that made the children of Israel any more
afraid in the days of Judith, nor a long time after her death. |