1. And Judith sang:“Strike up a song to my God with tambourines,sing to the Lord with cymbals;Improvise for him a new song,exalt and acclaim his name.
2. For the Lord is a God who crushes wars;he sets his encampment among his people;he delivered me from the hands of my pursuers.
3. “The Assyrian came from the mountains of the north,with myriads of his forces he came;Their numbers blocked the wadis,their cavalry covered the hills.
4. He threatened to burn my territory,put my youths to the sword,Dash my infants to the ground,seize my children as plunder.And carry off my virgins as spoil.
5. “But the Lord Almighty thwarted them,by the hand of a female!
6. Not by youths was their champion struck down,nor did Titans bring him low,nor did tall giants attack him;But Judith, the daughter of Merari,by the beauty of her face brought him down.
7. She took off her widow’s garbto raise up the afflicted in Israel.She anointed her face with fragrant oil;
8. fixed her hair with a diadem,and put on a linen robe to beguile him.
9. Her sandals ravished his eyes,her beauty captivated his mind,the sword cut through his neck!