1. And when they were gone, Judith went into her oratory: and putting on haircloth, laid ashes on her head: and falling down prostrate before the Lord, she cried to the Lord, saying:
2. O Lord God of my father Simeon, who gavest him a sword to execute vengeance against strangers, who had defiled by their uncleanness, and uncovered the virgin unto confusion:
3. And who gavest their wives to he made a prey, and their daughters into captivity: and all their spoils to be divided to thy servants, who were zealous with thy zeal: assist, I beseech thee, O Lord God, me a widow.
4. For thou hast done the things of old, and hast devised one thing after another: and what thou hast designed hath been done.
5. For all thy ways are prepared, and in thy providence thou hast placed thy judgments.