Judith's Plan To Defeat the Assyrians

¹Judith said:

⁶Achior was brought from Uzziah's house, and when he saw the head of Holofernes in the hands of one of the men, he fainted and collapsed on the ground.

⁷Achior was helped to his feet, and at once he bowed down to show his respect for Judith. He said, “Every family in Judea thanks you, and I pray that all nations will shake with fear when your name is mentioned.

⁸Please tell me how you did it.”

Judith told Achior and the crowd everything that had happened from the day she left Bethulia until she returned.

⁹As soon as she finished her story, the people of the town celebrated with shouts of joy.

¹⁰After Achior had listened to what the God of Israel had done, he completely put his faith in God. Then he was circumcised and became an Israelite. And from that day on, he and his descendants worshiped God.

The Assyrians Panic

¹¹Early the next morning, the Israelites hung the head of Holofernes on the town wall. The men armed themselves with weapons, then went out in groups and stood on the hills around Bethulia.

¹²As soon as the Assyrian guards saw what was happening, they reported it to their commanders, who made sure every Assyrian officer was alerted.

¹³The highest-ranking officers went to Holofernes' tent and said to Bagoas, “You need to wake General Holofernes and tell him those Israelites had the nerve to march out of Bethulia to attack us. They may think we can be defeated, but we will wipe out every one of them.”

¹⁴So Bagoas went inside and shook the curtain that separated Holofernes' bedroom from the rest of the tent. Bagoas waited, because he thought Judith was still with Holofernes.

¹⁵No one answered, and so Bagoas opened the curtain and walked in. He saw the headless body of Holofernes lying on the floor,

¹⁶and he began moaning and crying and tearing his clothes in sorrow.

¹⁷Bagoas ran quickly to Judith's tent and saw that it was empty. Then he ran back out and shouted to the officers,

¹⁸“We've been tricked. King Nebuchadnezzar's entire kingdom has been disgraced by one woman. Look! There's Holofernes lying dead on the ground—and his head is gone!”

¹⁹As soon as the Assyrian officers learned what had happened, they tore their uniforms in sorrow. Loud crying and moaning was heard everywhere in camp.