Judith · Revised Version with Apocrypha
Judith 9 Revised Version with Apocrypha
Judith is not in RV1909.
1 But Judith fell upon her face, and put ashes upon her head, and uncovered the sackcloth wherewith she was clothed; and the incense of that evening was now being offered at Jerusalem in the house of God, and Judith cried unto the Lord with a loud voice, and said,
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2 O Lord God of my father Simeon, into whose hand thou gavest a sword to take vengeance of the strangers, who loosened the girdle of a virgin to defile her, and uncovered the thigh to her shame, and profaned the womb to her reproach; for thou saidst, It shall not be so; and they did so:
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3 wherefore thou gavest their rulers to be slain, and their bed, which was ashamed for her that was deceived, to be dyed in blood, and smotest the servants with their lords, and the lords upon their thrones;
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4 and gavest 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 zeal for thee, and abhorred the pollution of their blood, and called upon thee for aid: O God, O my God, hear me also that am a widow.
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5 For thou wroughtest the things that were before those things, and those things, and such as ensued after; and thou didst devise the things which are now, and the things which are to come: and the things which thou didst devise came to pass;
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6 yea, the things which thou didst determine stood before thee, and said, Lo, we are here: for all thy ways are prepared, and thy judgement is with foreknowledge.
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7 For, behold, the Assyrians are multiplied in their power; they are exalted with horse and rider; they have gloried in the strength of their footmen; they have trusted in shield and spear and bow and sling; and they know not that thou art the Lord that breaketh the battles: the Lord is thy name.
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8 Dash thou down their strength in thy power, and bring down their force in thy wrath: for they have purposed to profane thy sanctuary, and to defile the tabernacle where thy glorious name resteth, and to cast down with the sword the horn of thine altar.
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9 Look upon their pride, and send thy wrath upon their heads: give into my hand, which am a widow, the might that I have conceived.
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10 Smite by the deceit of my lips the servant with the prince, and the prince with his servant: break down their stateliness by the hand of a woman.
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11 For thy power standeth not in multitude, nor thy might in strong men: but thou art a God of the afflicted, thou art a helper of the oppressed, an upholder of the weak, a protector of the forlorn, a saviour of them that are without hope.
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12 Yea, yea, God of my father, and God of the inheritance of Israel, Lord of the heavens and of the earth. Creator of the waters, King of every creature, hear thou my prayer:
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13 and make my speech and deceit to be their wound and stripe, who have purposed hard things against thy covenant, and thy hallowed house, and the top of Sion, and the house of the possession of thy children.
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14 And make every nation and tribe of thine to know that thou art God, the God of all power and might, and that there is none other that protecteth the race of Israel but thou.
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What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
So as Judith says, "Thou hast thought, and what things thou didst determine were ready at hand." On the other hand, and lest we should ever be drawn away by the greatness of the works wrought to imagine that the Lord is without beginning, what saith the Self-Existent?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 8 (1895)