Chapter Sixteen

1–17. Judith’s hymn of praise. 18–20. The conclusion of the celebrations. 21–25. The subsequent fate of Judith.

Judith 16:1. And Judith said: “Begin a song to my God with tambourines, sing to the Lord my God with cymbals; strike up a new song to Him, exalt and invoke His name; 1. “Begin a song to my God... sing to the Lord my God...” Judith here expresses her special right to name and consider the Lord as hers—as He who alone could preserve her life in her so desperate an undertaking, who alone by His aid granted her to accomplish this terrible deed of His righteous judgment, and to whom alone she is indebted for her entire life and wellbeing, in the special and preeminent sense of the word.

Judith 16:2. for He is God the Lord, who crushes wars; because He established His camp for me in the midst of the people and rescued me from the hand of those who pursued me. 2. “He established His camp for me in the midst of the people and rescued me from the hand of those who pursued me”—Greek: eis parembolus autou en mesō laou exeilato me ek cheiros katadiokontan me, that is, more literally: “in His camp in the midst of the people He took me from the hand of those who pursued me,” in other words: “to show His camp’s power (the power of His defense for the people), He separated me from the rest of the people and showed this power of His by rescuing me from the hand of those who pursued me.” Actually, Judith, thanks to her cunning, avoided all pursuit; therefore, here she either understands what could have been in her position, or simply imagines herself pursued insofar as she belonged to the people, threatened with destruction by the Assyrians. And the entire hymn of Judith generally—it should be noted—represents as much a confession of her own joyful feelings as, on the other hand, a confession of similar feelings applicable to every other individual person and to the whole personified community of the Jews. This is particularly clearly expressed in those places of Judith’s hymn where everything personally relating to her and not able to be adapted to another person—is expressed in the third person, not the first (see Jdt 16:2 verse with verses 5–10 of this same chapter).

Judith 16:3. Assyria came from the mountains of the north; he came with myriads of his army, and their multitude blocked the water sources, and their cavalry covered the hills. 3. “Their multitude blocked the water sources, and their cavalry covered the hills”—a poetic hyperbole, to which the lively imagination of Eastern peoples likes to resort.

Judith 16:4. He said that he would burn my borders, put my young men to the sword, dash my nursing infants to the ground, make my children captives, and take my virgins as spoil. 4. “He said that he would burn my borders...” Judith’s expression is on behalf of the entire personified land or community of the Jews (“my, my, my”—verse 12, “my”—verse 13, “my”—verse 17, and so forth).

Judith 16:5. But the Lord Almighty brought them low by the hand of a woman. Judith 16:6. For their mighty one fell not by the hands of the young men, and not the sons of the Titans struck him, and not the tall giants attacked him, but Judith, daughter of Merari, undid him by the beauty of her face; Judith 16:7. for she took off the widow’s weeds for the relief of those distressed in Israel, anointed her face with precious ointment, Judith 16:8. and adorned her hair with a tiara, put on a linen dress to seduce him. Judith 16:9. Her sandal captivated his eyes, and her beauty took captive his soul; the sword passed through his neck. Judith 16:10. The Persians trembled at her boldness, and the Medes were dismayed at her courage. 5–10. In adapting her song in this way so that each could pour out their own personal feeling of joy in it, Judith, coming to the mention of her exploit, expresses herself about herself in the third person. “The Persians trembled at her boldness, and the Medes were dismayed at her courage.” Persians and Medes are pointed out here as the most courageous and bold people, so that thereby the superior boldness and courage of Judith may be all the more clearly shown, bringing fear and confusion even to such peoples.

Judith 16:11. Then the lowly raised their voices, and my enemies were frightened; the weak raised a cry, and my enemies were routed; the sons of my adversaries fled. 11–17. From verse 11, the song again takes on its former personified and collective character, maintaining it through the end (through verse 17 inclusive).

Judith 16:12. The sons of young women pierced them through, and wounded them like the children of fugitive slaves; they perished before the army of the Lord my God. 12. “The sons of young women,” that is, of particularly weak, powerless women, and therefore themselves weak, young, powerless, “pierced them,” that is, the enemies, who became like “children of fugitive slaves,” that is, especially timid, faint-hearted, helpless, completely losing all their former formidability and danger to the Jews. Both served to magnify the greatness of the miracle of God’s aid to His people.

Judith 16:13. I will sing to the Lord my God a new song. O Lord, you are great and glorious, wonderful in strength and invincible! Judith 16:14. Let all your creatures serve you; for you spoke and they came into being; you sent your spirit and they were created, and there is no one who can resist your voice. 14. “You spoke and it came to pass... you sent your Spirit and it was created”—a thought closely reproducing the verses of the psalms (Ps 103:30 and 148:5).

Judith 16:15. The mountains shall be shaken from the foundations with the waters; the rocks shall melt like wax before you; but to those who fear you, you show mercy. Judith 16:16. A small sacrifice for a sweet smell is little, and all the fat is very little for a whole burnt offering to you; but whoever fears the Lord is great forever. Judith 16:17. Woe to the nations that rise up against my people! The Lord Almighty will take vengeance on them on the day of judgment; He will send fire and worms on their flesh, and they shall weep and feel pain forever. Judith 16:18. When they came to Jerusalem, they bowed down to God, and when the people had purified themselves, they offered their whole burnt offerings and their free-will offerings and their gifts. Judith 16:19. And Judith gave to the Lord all the vessels of Holofernes which the people had given her, and the curtain which she had taken from his sleeping chamber, as an offering to the Lord. Judith 16:20. The people rejoiced at Jerusalem before the sanctuary for three months, and Judith remained with them. 18–20. The people’s celebrations ended with a journey to Jerusalem, where rich thanksgiving sacrifices were offered to God. Judith “gave to the Lord” everything that had come to her, down to the curtain taken from Holofernes’ sleeping chamber, showing thereby that all her deed was the deed of the Righteous God Himself, for whom she had served only as an instrument. Instead of “three months” of the people’s celebrations in Jerusalem, the Syriac text indicates only “one month.”

Judith 16:21. After these days everyone returned to his inheritance, and Judith went to Bethulia, where she remained on her estate, and was in her time renowned throughout the land. 21. “After these days everyone returned to his inheritance, and Judith went to Bethulia.” The Jerusalem celebrations were celebrations not only of the inhabitants of Bethulia alone, but of all the people of Israel (Jdt 15:12-14 verse), who took the most active part in the pursuit and defeat of the enemy (see Jdt 15:3-5 verse and further), enemies not only of Bethulia but of all the heritage of Jehovah. Naturally, people from all around flocked to the Jerusalem celebrations, and it is not strange that these celebrations lasted three months, renewed by ever new streams of people. It is also natural that Judith “remained with them” in Jerusalem all this time, submitting obediently to the understandable desire of all to see their savior, having thus become “renowned throughout the land.”

Judith 16:22. Many desired her, but no man knew her all the days of her life from the day when her husband Manasseh died and was gathered to his people. 22. “Many desired her,” that is, with their love, wished to have her as their wife, sought her hand. “Was gathered to his people”—the customary biblical expression for denoting the righteous death of the faithful Israelites (see Gen 25:8 etc.).

Judith 16:23. She gained great fame and grew old in her husband’s house, living to one hundred five years, and freed her female servant. She died in Bethulia, and they buried her in the cave of her husband Manasseh. Judith 16:24. The house of Israel mourned her for seven days. Before her death she had distributed her estate among the relatives of her husband Manasseh and among those of her own family. 24. “Mourned her for seven days”—the customary period of mourning for the dead (Gen 50:10; 1 Sam 31:13; see Sir 22:10).

Judith 16:25. And no one ever again terrified the people of Israel in the days of Judith, nor for many years after her death. 25. Those who relate the history of Judith to later (Maccabean) times, particularly to the reign of Antiochus III, find in this verse a refutation of their theory, and they think to dispose of it very simply: they recognize here either a panegyrical, exaggerated depiction of complete (though poorly timed) prosperity granted to his homeland by Judith, or simply an expression of hope for lasting peace, or finally a later addition. All this is obvious distortion, losing all necessity for itself with the admission of a much more natural representation of the matter: namely, that the event of the book of Judith took place at the very time which the book itself indicates: in other words—soon after the captivity (Jdt 4:3), whoever one might understand by the name “Nebuchadnezzar of Assyria.” At the end of the book of Judith, the Vulgate makes one more addition about the establishment by the Jews of a new festival in memory of her victory: “And indeed the day of the victory of this celebration was accepted by the Hebrews among the number of holy days and is celebrated by the Jews from that time until the present day.” The absence of any such additions in the Greek manuscripts gives full reason to see here an arbitrary addition either by the author of the Vulgate himself or by one of the copyists of its text. Master of Theology, Professor Archimandrite Joseph.