Judith 9

Wycliffe Bible

9 And while they went away, Judith entered into her oratory, and she clothed herself with an hair-shirt, and putted ashes upon her head; and she bowed down herself to the Lord, and cried to the Lord, and said,

² Lord God of my father Simeon, which gavest to him a sword into defense of (or from) (the) aliens, that were defoulers in their defouling (or defiling), and made naked the hip of a virgin [or the maiden] into her own confusion;

³ and thou gavest the women of them into prey, and the daughters of them into captivity, and all the prey into parting [or division] to thy servants, that loved fervently thy fervent love; Lord, I beseech thee, help thou me a widow.

⁴ For thou madest the former things, and those things thou thoughtest to make afterward, and this thing is made to us, which thou wouldest.

⁵ For all thy ways be ready, and thou hast set thy dooms in thine own purveyance.

⁶ Behold thou the strengths (or the strongholds) of the men of Assyria now, as then thou vouchedest safe to behold the strengths (or the strongholds) of the men of Egypt, when they came armed after thy servants, and trusted in their chariots, and in the multitude of their knights, and in the multitude of their warriors. [Behold the tents of Assyrians now, as then the tents of Egyptians thou vouchedest safe to behold, when after thy servants they ran armed, trusting in their four-horsed carts, and in their horsing, and in the multitude of fighters.]

⁷ But thou beheldest on the powers of them, and darknesses made them faint; [But thou beheld upon the tents of them, and darknesses over-travailed them;]

⁸ the bottom of the sea held their feet, and (the) waters covered them. [the sea held the feet of them, and waters covered them.]

⁹ Lord, also these men be made so, that trust in their multitude/Lord, be these men made also in like manner, which trust in their multitude, and in their chariots, and in their sharp shafts without iron [or in (their) weapons], and in their arrows; and have vain glory in their spears;

¹⁰ and they know not, that thou thyself art our God, that all-breakest battles from the beginning, and the Lord is (the) name to thee.

¹¹ Raise up thine arm, that is, thy power, as thou didest at [or from] the beginning, and hurtle down the power of them in thy virtue (or with thy power)/and in thy virtue (or with thy power) hurledest down the power of them; (yea), the power of them fall it down in thy wrathfulness, which promise them(selves) to defoul thine holy things (or the Temple), and to defoul, (or to defile), [or to pollute] the tabernacle of thy name/which promise them(selves) to defoul (or to defile) the tabernacle of thy name, and to cast down [or to throw down] with their sword the horn, or the might, of thine altar.

¹² Lord, make thou, that the pride of them be cut off with their own sword; [Do, Lord, that the pride of them be cut away with their own sword;]

¹³ and be Holofernes taken with the snare of his eyes in (or on) me; and (then) thou shalt smite him with the lips of my charity, that is, by my sweet words, and showing love.

¹⁴ Give, Lord, thou to me steadfastness in soul, (so) that I despise him and his virtue, or his power, and destroy him. [Give to me in will steadfastness, that I despise him and his virtue, and I turn him upside-down.]

¹⁵ For it shall be a memorial, or a mindfulness, (or a remembrance) to thy name, when the hands of a woman have cast [or have thrown] him down.

¹⁶ For why, Lord, thy virtue, or thy power, is not in multitude, neither thy will is in the strengths of horses; and proud spirits pleased not thee at the beginning [or nor proud men pleased to thee from the beginning], but the prayer of meek men and mild hath (for)ever[more] pleased thee.

¹⁷ God of heavens, thou art (the) Creator of (the) waters, and Lord of all creature(s) (or of all Creation)/and Lord of each creature, hear thou me (a) wretched woman praying and trusting of (or in) thy mercy. [God of heavens, maker of waters, and Lord of each creature, hear me (but a) wretch praying, and of thy mercy principally taking trust.]

¹⁸ Lord, have thou mind of thy testament (or of thy covenant), and give a word in my mouth to speak, and make thou strong the counsel of thee in mine heart, (so) that thine house dwell perfectly in thine hallowing; [Have mind, Lord, of thy testament, and give word in my mouth, and strengthen the counsel in mine heart, that thine house in thine hallowing abide still;]

¹⁹ and that all folks know, that thou art God, and that none other is except thee. [and all Gentiles know, for thou art God, and there is none other besides thee.]