Judith 9

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 Judith threw herself down prostrate, with ashes strewn upon her head, and wearing nothing over her sackcloth. While the incense was being offered in the temple of God in Jerusalem that evening, Judith prayed to the Lord with a loud voice:	1 And when they were gone, Judith entered her place of prayer. And clothing herself with haircloth, she placed ashes on her head. And prostrating herself to the Lord, she cried out to the Lord, saying:
2 "Lord, God of my forefather Simeon! You put a sword into his hand to take revenge upon the foreigners who had immodestly loosened the maiden's girdle, shamefully exposed her thighs, and disgracefully violated her body. This they did, though you forbade it.	2 “O Lord, God of my father Simeon, you gave him a sword to defend against foreigners, who stood out as violators by their defilement, and who uncovered the thigh of the virgin unto shame.
3 Therefore you had their rulers slaughtered; and you covered with their blood the bed in which they lay deceived, the same bed that had felt the shame of their own deceiving. You smote the slaves together with their princes, and the princes together with their servants.	3 And you gave their wives into plunder, and their daughters into captivity, and all their spoils to be divided to the servants, who were zealous with your zeal. Bring help, I ask you, O Lord my God, to me, a widow.
4 Their wives you handed over to plunder, and their daughters to captivity; and all the spoils you divided among your favored sons, who burned with zeal for you, and in their abhorrence of the defilement of their kinswoman, called on you for help.	4 For you have acted in the past, and you have decided one thing after another. And what you have willed, this too has happened.
5 "O God, my God, hear me also, a widow. It is you who were the author of those events and of what preceded and followed them. The present, also, and the future you have planned. Whatever you devise comes into being;	5 For all your ways have been prepared, and you have placed your judgments within your providence.
6 the things you decide on come forward and say, 'Here we are!' All your ways are in readiness, and your judgment is made with foreknowledge.	6 Look upon the camp of the Assyrians now, just as you deigned to look upon the camp of the Egyptians, when their weapons rushed after your servants, trusting in their four-horse chariots, and in their horsemen, and in a multitude of warriors.
7 "Here are the Assyrians, a vast force, priding themselves on horse and rider, boasting of the power of their infantry, trusting in shield and spear, bow and sling. They do not know that	7 But you gazed upon their camp, and darkness wearied them.
8 " 'You, the Lord, crush warfare; Lord is your name. Shatter their strength in your might, and crush their force in your wrath; for they have resolved to profane your sanctuary, to defile the tent where your glorious name resides, and to overthrow with iron the horns of your altar.	8 The abyss took hold of their feet, and the waters covered them.
9 See their pride, and send forth your wrath upon their heads. Give me, a widow, the strong hand to execute my plan.	9 So may it be with these also, O Lord, who trust in their multitude, and in their swift chariots, and in their pikes, and in their shields, and in their arrows, and the glory in their lances.
10 With the guile of my lips, smite the slave together with the ruler, the ruler together with his servant; crush their pride by the hand of a woman.	10 And they do not know that you are our God, who crushes wars from the beginning, and the Lord is your name.
11 "Your strength is not in numbers, nor does your power depend upon stalwart men; but you are the God of the lowly, the helper of the oppressed, the supporter of the weak, the protector of the forsaken, the savior of those without hope.	11 Raise up your arm, just as from the beginning, and throw down their power by your power. Let their power fall, in their anger, for they promise themselves to violate your sanctuary, and to pollute the tabernacle of your name, and to cut down by their sword the horn of your altar.
12 "Please, please, God of my forefather, God of the heritage of Israel, Lord of heaven and earth, Creator of the waters, King of all you have created, hear my prayer!	12 Act, O Lord, so that his arrogance may be cut off with his own sword.
13 Let my guileful speech bring wound and wale on those who have planned dire things against your covenant, your holy temple, Mount Zion, and the homes your children have inherited.	13 Let him be seized by the snare of his own eyes in my regard, and may you strike him by the attraction of my lips.
14 Let your whole nation and all the tribes know clearly that you are the god of all power and might, and that there is no other who protects the people of Israel but you alone."	14 Give me constancy in my soul, so that I may hold him in contempt, and give me virtue, so that I may overthrow him.
	15 For this will be a memorial to your name, when he will be overthrown by the hand of a woman.
	16 For your power, O Lord, is not in numbers, nor is your will with the strength of horses, nor from the beginning have the arrogant been pleasing to you. But the pleas of the humble and the meek have always pleased you.
	17 O God of the heavens, Creator of the waters, and Lord of all creation, heed me, a miserable thing, pleading you and depending on your mercy.
	18 Remember, O Lord, your covenant, and put your words in my mouth, and reinforce the plan in my heart, so that your house may continue with your sanctification,
	19 and so that all the nations may acknowledge that you are God, and there is no other beside you.”