Books Jesus Read

Chapter 4: Uncompromising Standards – Judith

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out of the camp as on other nights, but this time they kept going and made their way home. 12 When they reached the gate of Bethulia, Judith called out to the watchmen, “Open the gate! God is still with us and has shown his power in Israel and his strength against our enemies this very day!” When the men of Bethulia heard her voice, they rushed to the city gate together with the elders of the people. After they kindled a bonfire, Judith addressed the crowd in a loud voice. “Praise God who has not withdrawn his mercy from the house of Israel, but has destroyed our enemies by my hand this very night!” she cried, “O praise him!” Judith took hold of the basket carried by her maid and dumped the bloody head of Holofernes onto the ground. “Behold!” declared Judith, “the head of Holofernes, the Great Commander of the Assyrian army whom the Lord defeated by the hand of a woman!” The people were astonished and bowed down to worship God. “Blessed are you, O God,” they cried, “who has visited your wrath upon the enemies of your people!” “As the Lord lives who guarded my way,” said Judith, “I swear that my enemy never laid a sinful hand on me

12 Judith’s victory recalls David’s triumph over Goliath (1 Sam 17:12–54). Moreover, according to George W. E. Nickelsburg, Jewish Literature between the Bible and the Mishnah , 2nd ed. (Philadelphia: Fortress, 2011), 100, “the book of Judith as a whole is a kind of reversal of the story of the rape of Dinah” (Gen 34).