Judith 9

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 Judith threw herself face to the ground, scattered ashes on her head, undressed as far as the sackclothshe was wearing and cried loudly to the Lord. At the same time in Jerusalem the evening incense was beingoffered in the Temple of God. Judith said:	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 ancestor Simeon, you armed him with a sword to take vengeance on the foreigners whohad undone a virgin's belt to her shame, laid bare her thigh to her confusion, violated her womb to herdishonour, since, though you said, 'This must not be,' they did 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 For this you handed their leaders over to slaughter, and their bed, defiled by their treachery, was itselfbetrayed in blood. You struck the slaves with the chieftains and the chieftains with their retainers.	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 You left their wives to be carried off, their daughters to be taken captive, and their spoils to be shared outamong the sons you loved, who had been so zealous for you, had loathed the stain put on their blood and cal edon you for help. O God, my God, now hear this widow too;	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 for you have made the past, and what is happening now, and what will fol ow. What is, what wil be, youhave planned; what has been, you designed.	5 For all your ways have been prepared, and you have placed your judgments within your providence.
6 Your purposes stood forward; 'See, here we are!' they said. For al your ways are prepared and yourjudgements delivered 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 See the Assyrians, with their army abounding glorying in their horses and their riders, exulting in thestrength of their infantry. Trust as they may in shield and spear, in bow and sling, in you they have notrecognised the Lord, the breaker of battle-lines;	7 But you gazed upon their camp, and darkness wearied them.
8 yours alone is the title of Lord. Break their violence with your might, in your anger bring down theirstrength. For they plan to profane your holy places, to defile the tabernacle, the resting place of your gloriousname, and to hack down the horn of your altar.	8 The abyss took hold of their feet, and the waters covered them.
9 Observe their arrogance, send your fury on their heads, give the strength I have in mind to this widow'shand.	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 By guile of my lips strike down slave with master, and master with retainer. Break their pride by awoman's hand.	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 does not lie in numbers, nor your might in strong men; since you are the God of thehumble, the help of the oppressed, the support of the weak, the refuge of the forsaken, the Saviour of thedespairing.	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 father, God of the heritage of Israel, Master of heaven and earth, Creator ofthe waters, King of your whole creation, hear my prayer.	12 Act, O Lord, so that his arrogance may be cut off with his own sword.
13 Give me a beguiling tongue to wound and kill those who have formed such cruel designs against yourcovenant, against your holy dwelling-place, against Mount Zion, against the house belonging to your sons.	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 And demonstrate to every nation, every tribe, that you are the Lord, God of al power, al might, and thatthe race of Israel has no protector but you.	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.”