1 Then he ordered her to enter where his valuables were stored, and he ordered her wait there, and he appointed what should be given to her from his own feast.
2 And Judith responded to him, and she said: “Now, I am not able to eat from these things which you instructed to be allotted to me, lest an offense come upon me. But I will eat from that which I have brought.”
3 And Holofernes said to her, “If these things that you have brought with you should fail you, what shall we do for you?”
4 And Judith said, “As your soul lives, my lord, your maidservant will not expend all these things, until God accomplishes by my hand what I have in mind.” And his servants led her into the tabernacle, as he instructed.
5 And, as she was entering, she requested that it be permitted to her to go outside at night, before daylight, in order to pray and to petition the Lord.
6 And he instructed his chamberlains that she may exit and enter, just as it may please her, to adore her God, for three days.
7 And she went out in the nights into the valley of Bethulia, and she washed herself in a fountain of water.
8 And, as she climbed up, she prayed to the Lord God of Israel that he would direct her way, to the liberation of his people.
9 And entering, she remained pure in the tabernacle, until she received her own food in the evening.
10 And it happened on the fourth day that Holofernes made a supper for his servants, and he said to Vagao his eunuch: “Go, and persuade that Hebrew woman to willingly consent to live with me.
11 For it is disgraceful among the Assyrians, if a woman mocks a man, acting so as to pass through with immunity from him.”
12 Then Vagao entered toward Judith, and he said, “May she not dread, my good young woman, to enter to my lord, so that she may be honored before his face, so that she may eat with him and drink wine with cheerfulness.”
13 Judith answered him: “Who am I, that I should contradict my lord?
14 All that will be good and best before his eyes, I will do. Moreover, whatever will please him, to me, that will be what is best, all the days of my life.”
15 And she arose and dressed herself with her garments, and entering, she stood before his face.
16 But the heart of Holofernes was struck. For he was burning with desire for her.
17 And Holofernes said to her, “Drink now, and recline with cheerfulness, for you have found favor before me.”
18 And Judith said, “I will drink, my lord, because my soul has been magnified this day, beyond all my days.”
19 And she accepted and ate and drank in his sight what her handmaid had prepared for her.
20 And Holofernes became pleased with her, and he drank very much wine, more than he had ever drunk in his life.
1 So then, when it had become late, his servants hurried to their lodgings, and Vagao closed the chamber doors, and he went away.
2 But they were all drowsy from the wine.
3 And Judith was alone in the chamber.
4 Moreover, Holofernes, being very inebriated, was fast asleep, reclining on his bed.
5 And Judith told her handmaid to stand outside before the chamber, and to watch.
6 And Judith stood in front of the bed, praying with tears, and her lips moved in silence,
7 saying: “Confirm me, O Lord God of Israel, and in this hour look kindly upon the works of my hands, so that, just as you promised, you may raise up Jerusalem, your city, and so that, believing through you that this plan is able to be accomplished, I may succeed.”
8 And when she had said this, she approached the pillar, which was at the head of the bed, and she released his blade, which was hanging tied to it.
9 And when she had unsheathed it, she grabbed him by the hair of his head, and she said, “Confirm me, O Lord God, in this hour.”
10 And she struck him twice on his neck, and she cut off his head, and she took off his canopy from the pillars, and she rolled away the trunk of his body.
11 And after a little while, she went out, and she delivered the head of Holofernes to her handmaid, and she ordered her to put it in her bag.
12 And the two went out, according to their custom, as if to prayer, and they passed through the camp, and having circled around the valley, they came to the gate of the city.
13 And Judith, from a distance, spoke to the watchmen on the walls, “Open the gates, for God is with us, and he has acted with his power in Israel.”
14 And it happened that, when the men had heard her voice, they called the elders of the city.
15 And all rushed toward her, from the least to the greatest. For, until then, they held no hope that she would return.
16 And, enflaming the lights, they gathered all around her. But she climbed up to a higher place, and she ordered them to be made silent. And when all had quieted down,
17 Judith said: “Praise the Lord our God, who has not abandoned those who hope in him.
18 And by me, his handmaid, he has fulfilled his mercy, which he promised to the house of Israel. And he has killed the enemy of his people, by my hand this night.”
19 Then, taking the head of Holofernes from the bag, she displayed it to them, saying: “Behold, the head of Holofernes the leader of the military of the Assyrians, and behold his canopy, under which he reclined in his drunkenness, where the Lord our God struck him by the hand of a woman.
20 But, as the Lord himself lives, his angel has been my guardian both from my departure, and while staying there, and when returning from there. And the Lord has not permitted me, his handmaid, to be defiled, but he has called me back to you without the pollution of sin, rejoicing in his victory, in my escape, and in your liberation.
21 Confess everything to him, for he is good, for his mercy is with every generation.”
22 Then everyone adored the Lord, and they said to her, “The Lord has blessed you by his power, because, through you, he has reduced our enemies to nothing.”
23 Furthermore, Uzziah, the leader of the people of Israel, said to her: “O daughter, you have been blessed by the Lord, the most high God, above all the women on earth.
24 Blessed is the Lord, who made heaven and earth, who has guided you in harming the head of the leader of our enemies.
25 For he has so magnified your name this day, that your praise will not retire from the mouth of men, who will be mindful of the power of the Lord forever, because you have risked your life for the sake of the distress and tribulation of your people, and you have prevented our ruin before the sight of our God.”
26 And all the people said: “Amen. Amen.”
27 And so, Achior was called, and he drew near, and Judith said to him: “The God of Israel, to whom you gave testimony, has avenged himself on his enemies. He has cut down the head of all unbelievers, by my hand this night.
28 And, so that you may determine that this is so, behold, the head of Holofernes, who, in the contempt of his pride, despised the God of Israel and threatened Israel with ruin, saying, ‘When the people of Israel have been captured, I will instruct your sides to be pierced through with a sword.’ “
29 Then Achior, seeing the head of Holofernes, and being distressed by fear, fell upon his face on the ground, and his soul became agitated.
30 In truth, after this, when he had recovered his breath, he fell down before her feet, and he showed reverence for her, and he said:
31 Blessed are you by your God, in every tabernacle of Jacob, for in every nation that will hear of your name, the God of Israel will be magnified over you.
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1 I will stand firm during my watch, and fix my position over the fortification. And I will observe carefully, to see what might be said to me and what I might respond to my opponent.
2 And the Lord responded to me and said: Write the vision and explain it on tablets, so that he who reads it may run through it.
3 For as yet the vision is far off, and it will appear in the end, and it will not lie. If it expresses any delay, wait for it. For it is arriving and it will arrive, and it will not be hindered.
4 Behold, he who is unbelieving, his soul will not be right within himself; but he who is just shall live in his faith.
5 And in the manner that wine deceives the heavy drinker, so will the arrogant man be deceived, and he will not be honored. He has enlarged his life like hellfire, and himself like death, and he is never fulfilled. And he will gather to himself all nations, and he will amass for himself all peoples.
6 Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and an enigmatic utterance about him? And it will be said, “Woe to him who increases what is not his own.” How long, then, will he lay down dense clay against himself?
7 Shall they not suddenly rise up, who would bite you, and be stirred up, who would tear you, so that you will be a prey for them?
8 Because you have despoiled many peoples, all those who are left of the people shall despoil you,
9 Woe to him who gathers together an evil greed for his house, so that his nest may be exalted, and thinking that he might free himself from the hand of evil.
10 You have devised confusion for your house, you have cut to pieces many peoples, and your soul has sinned.
11 For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the wood that is between the joints of the building will respond.
12 Woe to him who builds a town with blood and prepares a city by iniquity.
13 Are not these things before the Lord of hosts? For the people will labor amid a great fire, and the nations will labor in emptiness, and they will fail.
14 For the earth shall be filled, that they might know the glory of the Lord, like the waters spreading over the sea.
15 Woe to anyone who gives a drink to a friend, releasing a drug and inebriating, so as to look upon their nakedness.
16 You are filled with disgrace in place of glory. So then, drink and fall fast asleep, for the cup of the right hand of the Lord will surround you, and a disgraceful vomit will cover your glory.
17 For the iniquity of Lebanon will cover you, and the devastation of animals which will deter them from the blood of men, and the iniquity of the earth and the city, and of all who dwell therein.
18 Of what benefit is the graven image? For its maker has formed it, a molten and imaginary deception. For its maker has hoped in a figment of his own creation, so as to make a dumb likeness.
19 Woe to him who says to wood, “Awaken,” to the silent stone, “Arise.” Is it able to teach? Behold, it has been entirely covered with gold and silver; and there is no spirit at all in its inner workings.
20 But the Lord is in his holy temple. May all the earth be silent before his face.
13 May his posterity be cut off; in one generation may his name be blotted out.
14 May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered in the sight of the Lord: and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
15 May they be before the lord continually, and let the memory of them perish from the earth:
16 Because he remembered not to shew mercy,
17 But persecuted the poor man and the beggar; and the broken in heart, to put him to death.
18 And he loved cursing, and it shall come unto him: and he would not have blessing, and it shall be far from him. And he put on cursing, like a garment: and it went in like water into his entrails, and like oil in his bones.
19 May it be unto him like a garment which covereth him; and like a girdle with which he is girded continually.
1 Next, after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem, taking with me Barnabas and Titus.
2 And I went up according to revelation, and I debated with them about the Gospel that I am preaching among the Gentiles, but away from those who were pretending to be something, lest perhaps I might run, or have run, in vain.
3 But even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Gentile, was not compelled to be circumcised,
4 but only because of false brothers, who were brought in unknowingly. They entered secretly to spy on our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might reduce us to servitude.
5 We did not yield to them in subjection, even for an hour, in order that the truth of the Gospel would remain with you,
6 and away from those who were pretending to be something. (Whatever they might have been once, it means nothing to me. God does not accept the reputation of a man.) And those who were claiming to be something had nothing to offer me.
7 But it was to the contrary, since they had seen that the Gospel to the uncircumcised was entrusted to me, just as the Gospel to the circumcised was entrusted to Peter.
8 For he who was working the Apostleship to the circumcised in Peter, was also working in me among the Gentiles.
9 And so, when they had acknowledged the grace that was given to me, James and Cephas and John, who seemed like pillars, gave to me and to Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we would go to the Gentiles, while they went to the circumcised,
10 asking only that we should be mindful of the poor, which was the very thing that I also was solicitous to do.
11 But when Cephas had arrived at Antioch, I stood against him to his face, because he was blameworthy.
12 For before certain ones arrived from James, he ate with the Gentiles. But when they had arrived, he drew apart and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision.
13 And the other Jews consented to his pretense, so that even Barnabas was led by them into that falseness.
14 But when I had seen that they were not walking correctly, by the truth of the Gospel, I said to Cephas in front of everyone: “If you, while you are a Jew, are living like the Gentiles and not the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to keep the customs of the Jews?”
15 By nature, we are Jews, and not of the Gentiles, sinners.
16 And we know that man is not justified by the works of the law, but only by the faith of Jesus Christ. And so we believe in Christ Jesus, in order that we may be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law. For no flesh will be justified by the works of the law.
17 But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves are also found to be sinners, would then Christ be the minister of sin? Let it not be so!
18 For if I rebuild the things that I have destroyed, I establish myself as a prevaricator.
19 For through the law, I have become dead to the law, so that I may live for God. I have been nailed to the cross with Christ.
20 I live; yet now, it is not I, but truly Christ, who lives in me. And though I live now in the flesh, I live in the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and who delivered himself for me.
21 I do not reject the grace of God. For if justice is through the law, then Christ died in vain.
