Judith 14

How to read these pages: the text itself comes first, verse by verse, in the volume's own translation. Beneath each verse stands its Meaning — a rendering of what the passage's terms name in the inner life, drawn from the correspondences the text itself uses. The text is never altered; the meaning is offered, not imposed.

King James Version

1Then said Judith unto them, Hear me now, my brethren, and take this head, and hang it upon the highest place of your walls.

Then said Judith unto them: Hear me now, my brethren, and take this head, and hang it upon the highest place of your walls — the deliverer becoming the strategist in the same hour: the head appointed as a weapon before it is cold, hung where the dawn will show it to two armies at once.

2And so soon as the morning shall appear, and the sun shall come forth upon the earth, take ye every one his weapons, and go forth every valiant man out of the city, and set ye a captain over them, as though ye would go down into the field toward the watch of the Assyrians; but go not down.

And so soon as the morning shall appear — the dawning of the new state — and the sun shall come forth upon the earth, take you every one his weapons, and go forth every valiant man out of the city, and set you a captain over them, as though you would go down into the field toward the watch of the Assyrians; but go not down — the sortie feigned: the appearance of descent commanded, the descent forbidden. The city that could not fight will win by seeming about to.

3Then they shall take their armour, and shall go into their camp, and raise up the captains of the army of Assur, and shall run to the tent of Holofernes, but shall not find him: then fear shall fall upon them, and they shall flee before your face.

Then they shall take their armour, and shall go into their camp, and raise up the captains of the army of Assur, and shall run to the tent of Holofernes, but shall not find him: then fear shall fall upon them, and they shall flee before your face — the enemy's morning scripted by the woman who made it inevitable: armour, alarm, the empty tent, and fear doing the rest.

4So ye, and all that inhabit the coast of Israel, shall pursue them, and overthrow them as they go.

So you, and all that inhabit the coast of Israel, shall pursue them, and overthrow them as they go — pursuit assigned to the besieged: the hunted of thirty-four days appointed hunters by sunrise.

5But before ye do these things, call me Achior the Ammonite, that he may see and know him that despised the house of Israel, and that sent him to us as it were to his death.

But before you do these things, call me Achior the Ammonite, that he may see and know him that despised the house of Israel, and that sent him to us as it were to his death — one act required before the stratagem: the truth-teller summoned to identify his sentence's author. The man bound at the hill's foot must see the head before the army does.

6Then they called Achior out of the house of Ozias; and when he was come, and saw the head of Holofernes in a man’s hand in the assembly of the people, he fell down on his face, and his spirit failed.

Then they called Achior out of the house of Ozias; and when he was come, and saw the head of Holofernes in a man's hand in the assembly of the people, he fell down on his face, and his spirit failed — the sight accomplishing what the report could not: the man who described this God's history struck down by its latest chapter, held in a man's hand.

7But when they had recovered him, he fell at Judith’s feet, and reverenced her, and said, Blessed art thou in all the tabernacles of Juda, and in all nations, which hearing thy name shall be astonished.

But when they had recovered him, he fell at Judith's feet, and reverenced her, and said: Blessed are you in all the tabernacles of Juda — Judah, Praise; the tabernacle, the structured dwelling of the Presence — and in all nations, who hearing your name shall be astonished: the foreigner's blessing widening from the city's tents to all nations: astonishment as the name's escort, as she herself foretold.

8Now therefore tell me all the things that thou hast done in these days. Then Judith declared unto him in the midst of the people all that she had done, from the day that she went forth until that hour she spake unto them.

Now therefore tell me all the things that you have done in these days. Then Judith declared unto him in the midst of the people all that she had done, from the day that she went forth until that hour she spoke unto them — the whole act narrated, in the assembly, to the man whose counsel began it: no part withheld, the deceit of the lips included, before witnesses.

9And when she had left off speaking, the people shouted with a loud voice, and made a joyful noise in their city.

And when she had left off speaking, the people shouted with a loud voice, and made a joyful noise in their city — narrative answered with shouting: the city's voice, last heard demanding surrender, now one joyful noise.

10And when Achior had seen all that the God of Israel had done, he believed in God greatly, and circumcised the flesh of his foreskin, and was joined unto the house of Israel unto this day.

And when Achior had seen all that the God of Israel had done, he believed in God greatly, and circumcised the flesh of his foreskin, and was joined unto the house of Israel unto this day — circumcision, the cutting away of sense-excess, the covenant's sign: the Ammonite captain entering the house his history described, by the sign of the covenant, joined unto this day. Truth heard in a hostile tent ends in belonging at the besieged table.

11And as soon as the morning arose, they hanged the head of Holofernes upon the wall, and every man took his weapons, and they went forth by bands unto the straits of the mountain.

And as soon as the morning arose, they hanged the head of Holofernes upon the wall, and every man took his weapons, and they went forth by bands unto the straits of the mountain — the plan executed at the hour named: head on the wall, bands at the straits, the feint in motion.

12But when the Assyrians saw them, they sent to their leaders, which came to their captains and tribunes, and to every one of their rulers.

But when the Assyrians saw them, they sent to their leaders, who came to their captains and tribunes, and to every one of their rulers — the alarm climbing the empire's chain of command exactly as scripted, link by link.

13So they came to Holofernes’ tent, and said to him that had the charge of all his things, Waken now our lord: for the slaves have been bold to come down against us to battle, that they may be utterly destroyed.

So they came to Holofernes' tent, and said to him that had the charge of all his things: Waken now our lord; for the slaves have been bold to come down against us to battle, that they may be utterly destroyed — the besieged renamed slaves in the moment of their sortie: contempt speaking at the very door of the empty tent.

14Then went in Bagoas, and knocked at the door of the tent; for he thought that he had slept with Judith.

Then went in Bagoas, and knocked at the door of the tent; for he thought that he had slept with Judith — the keeper of all he had knocking softly, on an assumption that dishonours both his lord and the woman: the empire's imagination supplying the scene it expected.

15But because none answered, he opened it, and went into the bedchamber, and found him cast upon the floor dead, and his head was taken from him.

But because none answered, he opened it, and went into the bedchamber, and found him cast upon the floor dead, and his head was taken from him — silence, then the opened door: the body on the floor where the canopy fell, the discovery made by the servant who shut the tent the night before.

16Therefore he cried with a loud voice, with weeping, and sighing, and a mighty cry, and rent his garments.

Therefore he cried with a loud voice, with weeping, and sighing, and a mighty cry, and rent his garments — grief in the empire's household key: the cry going out of the tent as hers went into the city, to opposite effect.

17After he went into the tent where Judith lodged: and when he found her not, he leaped out to the people, and cried,

After he went into the tent where Judith lodged; and when he found her not, he leaped out to the people, and cried — the second emptiness confirming the first: her tent as vacant as his, and the keeper leaping out with the whole story in one cry.

18These slaves have dealt treacherously; one woman of the Hebrews hath brought shame upon the house of king Nabuchodonosor: for, behold, Holofernes lieth upon the ground without a head.

These slaves have dealt treacherously; one woman of the Hebrews has brought shame upon the house of king Nabuchodonosor: for, behold, Holofernes lies upon the ground without a head — the empire's own herald preaching the book's thesis to the empire: one woman, and shame upon the great king's house. Treachery, he calls it — the deceit of the lips, named at last by the lips it deceived.

19When the captains of the Assyrians’ army heard these words, they rent their coats and their minds were wonderfully troubled, and there was a cry and a very great noise throughout the camp.

When the captains of the Assyrians' army heard these words, they rent their coats and their minds were wonderfully troubled, and there was a cry and a very great noise throughout the camp — rending and trouble and noise: the host that covered the face of the earth discovering, in one cry, that it has no head. The fear Judith foretold, falling on schedule.

Companion volume to The Why Bible — the King James Apocrypha, rendered in its spiritual meanings. First final edition, October 2026.