Judith 9

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 Judith fell upon her face, and put ashes upon her head, and uncovered the sackcloth wherewith she was clothed; and about the time that the incense of that evening was offered in Jerusalem in the house of the Lord Judith cried with a loud voice, and said,

Then Judith fell upon her face — the surface of awareness laid to the earth — and put ashes upon her head, and uncovered the sackcloth wherewith she was clothed; and about the time that the incense of that evening was offered in Jerusalem in the house of the Lord, Judith cried with a loud voice, and said — her prayer timed to the evening incense at the center: the widow on the rooftop and the sanctuary keeping the same hour, distance abolished by the hour itself.

2O Lord God of my father Simeon, to whom thou gavest a sword to take vengeance of the strangers, who loosened the girdle of a maid to defile her, and discovered the thigh to her shame, and polluted her virginity to her reproach; for thou saidst, It shall not be so; and yet they did so:

O Lord God of my father Simeon — Simeon, the hearing faculty: obedience and its fierce excess — to whom You gave a sword — the cutting word — to take vengeance of the strangers, who loosened the girdle of a maid to defile her, and discovered the thigh to her shame, and polluted her virginity to her reproach; for You said, It shall not be so; and yet they did so: the prayer reaching back to Dinah — the daughter of the soul, the feeling for right that went out among sense-states and was wronged — and to the vengeance that answered her wrong.

3Wherefore thou gavest their rulers to be slain, so that they dyed their bed in blood, being deceived, and smotest the servants with their lords, and the lords upon their thrones;

Wherefore You gave their rulers to be slain, so that they dyed their bed in blood — the life-stream of the state — being deceived, and smote the servants with their lords, and the lords upon their thrones — the seats of ruling authority: judgment remembered as precedent, deception and all, because the present hour will need the same pattern.

4And hast given their wives for a prey, and their daughters to be captives, and all their spoils to be divided among thy dear children; which were moved with thy zeal, and abhorred the pollution of their blood, and called upon thee for aid: O God, O my God, hear me also a widow.

And have given their wives for a prey, and their daughters to be captives, and all their spoils to be divided among Your dear children; who were moved with Your zeal, and abhorred the pollution of their blood, and called upon You for aid: O God, O my God, hear me also a widow — the prayer arriving at its plea: also. The widow asking to be written into the same history she has recited.

5For thou hast wrought not only those things, but also the things which fell out before, and which ensued after; thou hast thought upon the things which are now, and which are to come.

For You have wrought not only those things, but also the things which fell out before, and which ensued after; You have thought upon the things which are now, and which are to come — the Source confessed as author of the whole span: the present siege already inside His thought before it was inside the Assyrian camp.

6Yea, what things thou didst determine were ready at hand, and said, Lo, we are here: for all thy ways are prepared, and thy judgments are in thy foreknowledge.

Yea, what things You did determine were ready at hand, and said, Lo, we are here; for all Your ways are prepared, and Your judgments are in Your foreknowledge — the determined things presenting themselves like servants: the prayer's ground shifting from memory to certainty.

7For, behold, the Assyrians are multiplied in their power; they are exalted with horse and man; they glory in the strength of their footmen; they trust in shield, and spear, and bow, and sling; and know not that thou art the Lord that breakest the battles: the Lord is thy name.

For, behold, the Assyrians are multiplied in their power; they are exalted with horse and man; they glory in the strength of their footmen; they trust in shield, and spear, and bow, and sling; and know not that You are the Lord that breaks the battles: the Lord is Your name — the host itemised in its trusts, each trust an implement, and against the whole list one ignorance: they know not who breaks battles.

8Throw down their strength in thy power, and bring down their force in thy wrath: for they have purposed to defile thy sanctuary, and to pollute the tabernacle where thy glorious name resteth and to cast down with sword the horn of thy altar.

Throw down their strength in Your power, and bring down their force in Your wrath — the burning of the divine order against error, the order confronting the state: for they have purposed to defile Your sanctuary, and to pollute the tabernacle — the structured dwelling of the Presence — where Your glorious name rests, and to cast down with sword the horn of Your altar — the strength of the point of consecration.

9Behold their pride, and send thy wrath upon their heads: give into mine hand, which am a widow, the power that I have conceived.

Behold their pride, and send Your wrath upon their heads: give into my hand, which am a widow, the power that I have conceived — the petition naming its instrument without apology: a widow's hand, and a conception already formed within it.

10Smite by the deceit of my lips the servant with the prince, and the prince with the servant: break down their stateliness by the hand of a woman.

Smite by the deceit of my lips the servant with the prince, and the prince with the servant: break down their stateliness by the hand of a woman — the method prayed for as openly as the end: deceit of lips, and a woman's hand, asked of God as instruments of the order.

11For thy power standeth not in multitude nor thy might in strong men: for thou art a God of the afflicted, an helper of the oppressed, an upholder of the weak, a protector of the forlorn, a saviour of them that are without hope.

For Your power stands not in multitude nor Your might in strong men: for You are a God of the afflicted, a helper of the oppressed, an upholder of the weak, a protector of the forlorn, a saviour of them that are without hope — the doctrine of the whole book in one verse: power redefined by the company it keeps.

12I pray thee, I pray thee, O God of my father, and God of the inheritance of Israel, Lord of the heavens and earth, Creator of the waters, king of every creature, hear thou my prayer:

I pray You, I pray You, O God of my father, and God of the inheritance of Israel — the spiritual man — Lord of the heavens and earth — the inner realm and the outer world — Creator of the waters, king of every creature, hear my prayer: the titles gathered like witnesses, and the doubled plea laid before them.

13And make my speech and deceit to be their wound and stripe, who have purposed cruel things against thy covenant, and thy hallowed house, and against the top of Sion, and against the house of the possession of thy children.

And make my speech and deceit to be their wound and stripe, who have purposed cruel things against Your covenant — the law of relationship written into the state — and Your hallowed house, and against the top of Sion — Zion, the high citadel, the love-height of consciousness where God is enthroned — and against the house of the possession of Your children.

14And make every nation and tribe to acknowledge that thou art the God of all power and might, and that there is none other that protecteth the people of Israel but thou.

And make every nation and tribe to acknowledge that You are the God of all power and might, and that there is none other that protects the people of Israel but You — the prayer's horizon widening past deliverance to acknowledgment: every nation learning, from one night's work, where protection lives.

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