power, th.it he would look upon all the house of Israel graciously.

CHAP. V. 5 Acfiicr telltlh Hohfernes tiihat the Jtnut

are, 8 and what their God had done for

them.

THEN was it declared to Holofernes, the chief captain of the armyofAssur.thatthe children of Israel had prepared for war, and h3d shut up the passages of the hill country, and had fortified all the tops of the high hills, and had laid impediments in the champaign countries:

» Wherewith he was very angry, and called all the princes of Moab, and the captains of Ammon, and all the governors of the sea coast,

j And he said unto them, Tell me now, ye sons of Chanaan, who this people it, that dwelleth in the hill country, and what are the cities that they inhabit, and what is the multitude of their army, and wherein is their power and strength, and what king is set over them, or captain of their army;

4 And why have they determined not to come and meet me, more than all the inhabitants of the west? • 5 1 Then said Achior, the captain of all the sons of Ammon, Let my lord now hear a word from the mouth of thy servant, and I will declare unto thee the truth concerning this people, which dwelleth near thee, and inhabiteth the hill countries: and there shall no lie come out of the mouth of thy servant. 6 This people are descended of the Chaldeans:

.7 And they sojourned heretofore in Mesopotamia, because they would not follow the gods of their fathers, which were in the land of Chaldea.

8 H For they left the way of their ancestors, and worshipped the God of heaven, the God whom they knew: so they cast them out from the face of their gods, and they fled into Mesopotamia, and sojourned there many days.

9 Then their God commanded them to depart from the place where they sojourned, and to go into the land of Chanaan : where they dwelt, and were increased with gold and silver, and with Tery much cattle.

Io But when a famine covered all the land of Chanaan, they went down into Egypt, and sojourned there, while they were nourished, and became there a great multitude, so that one could not number their nation.

ii Therefore the king of Egypt rose

up against thqan, and d«alt subtilly with them, and brought them low with labouring iribrick, and made them Caves. li Then they cried unto their God, and he smote all the land of Egypt with incurable plagues: so the Egyptian* call them out of their sight.

13 And God dried the Red sea before them,

14 And brought them to mount Sim, and Cades-Bame, and cast forth all thai dwelt in the wilderness.

15 So they dwelt in the land of the Amorites, and they destroyed by their strength all them of Esebon, and pasting over Jordan, they possessed all toe hill country.

16 And they cast forth before them theChanaanite,thePherezite,theJebusite, and the Sychemite, and alltheGergefltes, and they dwelt in that country many days.

17 And whilst they sinned not before their God, they prospered, because tbe God that hateth iniquity was with them.

18 But when they departed from the way which he appointed them, they were destroyed in many battles very sore, and were led captives into a land that was not their's, and the tempkof their God was cast to the ground, and their cities were taken by the enemies.

19 But now are they returned to their God, and are come up from tbe placts where they were Icattered, and have possessed Jerusalem, where their sanctuary is, and are seated in the hill country, for it was desolate.

ao Now therefore, my lord and governor, if there be any error in this people, and they fin against their God, let" consider that this sliall be their ruin,and let us go up, and we sliall overcome them.

ai But if there be no iniquity in their nation, let my lord nowpassby, leftthetr Lord defend them, and their God be for them, and we become a reproach before all the world.

ai And when Achior had nrnfted these sayings, all the people Handing round about the tent murmured, and the chief men of Holofernes.andall that dwelt by the sea side, and in Moab, spake that he mould kill him.

a 3 for,fay they, we will not be afraid of the face of tbe children of Israel: for, lo, it is a people that have no urenjin nor power for a strong battle.

»4Nowtbercfore,lord Holoferne«,«

will go up, and they sliall be a prey totx

devoured ot all thine army.

CHAr.

Apocrypha. Chap.

CHAP. VI. I UoUfarnes defpifclhGodt 7 He threateneth Achicr, and jendtth him away. 14 Ihe Btthnlians receive him.

AN D when the tumult of men that were about the council was ceased, Hoioferness the chief captain of the array of Afiar said unto Achior and all the Moabites before all the company of other nations,

* And who art thou, Achior, and the hirelings of Ephraim, that thou hast prophesied among us as to day, and hast laid, that we should not make war with the people of Israel, because their God will defend them? and who is God, but Nabuchodonosorf

3 He will fend his power, and will destroy them from the face of the earth, and their God shall not deliver them: but we his servants will destroy them as out man; tor they are not able to sustain the power of our horses.

4 For with them we will tread them under foot, and their mountains (hall be drunken with their blood, and their fields ihall be filled with their dead bodies, and their footsteps Ihall not be able to stand before us, for they shall utterly perilh, saitb king Nabuchodonosor, lord of ail theearth : for he said, None of my word* shall be in vain.

5 And thou, Achior, an hireling of A in 111011, which hast spoken these words in the day of thine iniquity, shalt fee my face no more from this day, until 1 take vengeance of this nation that came out of Egypt.

6 And then shall the sword of mine army, and the multitude of them that serve me, pass through thy sides, and thou Ihalt tail among their (lain, when I return.

7 % Now therefore my servants (hall bring thee back into the hill country, and (hall set thee in one of the cities of the passages:

g And thou (halt not perilh, till thou be destroved with them.

9 And it thou persuade thyself in thy mind that they (hail not be taken, let not thy countenance fall: 1 have spoken it, and none or my words shall be in vain.

xo Then Holofernes commanded his servants, that waited in bis tent, to take Achior, and bring himtoBcthulia, and deliver him into the bands of the children of Israel.

11 So his servants took him, and brought him out.of the camp into the plain, and they went from the midst of the plain into the hill country, and came

vti. Apocrypha.

unto the fountains that were under Bethulia.

11 And when the men of the city saw them, they took up their weapons, and went out of the city to the top of the hill -. and every- man that used a fling kept them from coming up by casting of stones against them.

13 Nevertheless having gotten privily under the hill, they bound Achior, and cast him down, and left him at the foot of the hill, and returned to their lord.

14 «J But the Israelites descended from their city, and came unto him, and loosed him, and brought him into Bethulia, and presented him to the governors of the city:

15 Which were in those days Ozias the son of Micha,of the tribe of Simeon, and Chabris the son of Gothoniel, and Clurmis the son of Melchiel.

16 And they called together all the ancients of the city, and all their youth ran together, and their women, to the assembly, and they set Achior in the midst of all their people. Then Ozias alked him of that which was done.

17 And he answered and declared unto them the words of the council of Holotei 1,es, and all the words that he had spoken in the midst of the princes of Assur.and whatsoever Holofernes had spoken proudly against the house of Israel.

18 Then the people fell down and worshipped God, and cried unto God, saying,

19 O Lord God of heaven, behold their pride, and pity the low estate of our nation, and look upon the face of those that are sanctified unto thee this day.

40 Then they comforted Achior, and praised him greatly.

ar And Ozias took him out of the assembly unto his house, and made a feast to the elders; and they called on the God of Israel all that night for help.

CHAP. VII. I Hole/ernes befiegeth Bethulia, 7 and si oppet n the nvatei from them 1 11 they murmur and faint. THE next day Holofernes commanded all his army, and all his people which were come to take his part, that they should remove their camp against Bethulia, to take aforehand the ascents of the hill country, and to make war against the children of Israel.

1 Then their strong men removed their camps in that day, and the army of the men of war was an hundred

and Apteryfiha. JUD

■tid seventy thousand footmen, and twelve thousand horsemen, beside the baggage, and other men that were -afoot a uong them, a very great multitude.

3 And they camped in the valley near unto Bethulia, by the fountain, and they spread themselves in breadth over Dothaim even to Belmaim, and in length from Bethulia unto Cyamon, which is over against Esdraelom.

4 Now the children of Israel, when they saw the multitude of them, were greatly troubled, and said every one to his neighbour, Now will these men lick up the face of the earth; for neither the high mountains, nor the vallitf, nor the hills, are able to bear their weight.

5 Then every man took up his weapons of war, and when they had kindled fires upon their towers, they remained and watched all that night.

6 But in the second day Holofernes brought forth all his horsemen, in the fight of the children of Israel which were in Bethulia,

71 And viewed the passages up to the eity, and came to the fountains of their waters, and took them, and set garrisons of men of war over them, and he himself removed toward his people.

8 Then came unto him all the chief of the children of Esau, and all the governors of the people of Moab, and the captains of the lea coast, and said,

9 Let our lord now hear a word, that there be not an overthrow in thine army.

io For this people of the children of Israel do not trust in their spears, but in theheightofthemountainswhereinthey dwell, because it is not easy to come up to the tops of their mountains.

II Now therefore, my lord, fight not against them in battle array, and there shall not so much as one man of thy people periui.

i j Remain in thy camp, and keep all the men of thine army, and let thy servants get into their hands the fountain of water, which issuetb forth of the foot of the mountain:

13 For all the inhabitants of Bethulia have their water thence; so mall thirst kill them,and they (hall give up their city, and we and our people shall go up to the tops of the mountains that are near, and will camp upon them, to watch that none go out of the city.

14 So they and their wives and their children shall be consumed with famine,

ITH Apcxryphs.

and before the sword come against them, they shall be overthrown in the street* where they dwell.

15 Thus (halt thou render them an, evil reward; because they rebelled, and met not thy person peaceably.

16 And these words pleased Holofernes and all his servants, and he appointed to do as they had spoken.

17 So the camp of the children of Ammon departed, and with them five thousand ot the Assyrians, and they pitched in the valley, and took the waters, and the fountains of the waters of the children of Israel.

18 Then the children of Esau went up with the children of Ammon, and camped in the hill country over against Dothaim: and they sent some of them toward the south, and toward the east, over against Ekrebel, which is near unto Chust, that is upon the brook Mocbmur; and the rest of the army of the Assyrians camped in the plain, and covered the face of the whole land; and their tentl and carriages were pitched to a very great multitude.

19 Then the children of Israel cried unto the Lord their God, because their heart failed, for all their enemies had compassed them round about, and there was no way to escape out from among them.

ao Thus all the company of Assur remained about them, both their footmen, chariots, and horsemen, four and thirty days, so that all their vessels of water sailed all the inhabitants of Bethulia.

11 And thecisterns were emptied, and they had not water to drink their fill for one day; for they gave them drink by measure.

at t Therefore their yonng children were out of heart, and their women aud young men fainted for thirst, and fell down in the streets of the city, and by the passages of the gates, and there was * no longer any strength in them.

13 Then all the people assembled to Ozias, and to the chief of the city, both young men, and women, and children, and cried with a loud voice, and said before all the elders,

a4 God be judge between us and yon, for ye have done us great injury, in that ye have not required peace of the children of Assur.

a 5 For now we have no helper: but God hath fold us into their hands, that we should be thrown down before them with thirst and great destruction.

26 Now therefore call them unto you,

and

Apocrypha. Chap

and deliver the whole city for a spoil to the people of Holofernes, and to all hit army.

a 7 For it is better for us to be made a spoil unto them, than to die for thirst: for we will be his servants, that our fouls may live, and not fee the death of our infants before our eyes, nor our wives nor our children to die.

a8 We take to witness against you the heaven and the earth, and our God and Lord of our fathers, which punilheth us according to our sins and the sins of our fathers, that be do not according as we have said this day.

»9 Then there was great weeping with one consent in the midst of the assembly; * and they cried unto the Lord God with a loud voice.

30Then said Ozias to them, Brethren, be of good courage, let us yet endure Ave days, in the which space the Lord our God may turn his mercy toward us; for he will not forsake us utterly.

31 And if these dayt pass, and there come no help unto us, I will do according to your word.

j» And he dispersed the people, every one to theirown charge; and they went unto the walls and towers.of their city, and sent the women and children into their houses: and they were very low brought in the city.

CHAP. VIII. 11 Judith blamtihthe governor) for I heir promise toyield, 17 andadviseththemto trust m God.

NOW at that time Judith heard thereof, which was the daughter of Merari, the son of Ox, the son of Joseph, the son of Oziel, the son of Elcia, the son of Ananias, the son of Gedeon, the son of Raphaim, the son of Acitho, the son of Eliu, the son of Eliab, the son of Nathanae), the son of Samael, the son of Salasadai, the son of Israel.

a And Manasses was her husband, ef her tribe and kindred, who died in the barley harvest.

3 For as be stood overseeing them that bound (heaves in the field, the heat came upon his head, and be fell on his bed, and died in the city of Bethulia: and they buried him with his fathers in the field between Dothaim and Balamo.

4 So Judith was a widow in her house three years and four months.

5 And lhe made her a tent upon the top of her hdusc, and put on sackcloth upon her loins, and ware her widow's apparel.

e And she fasted all the days of her

viil. ,' Apocrypha.

widowhood,save the evesofthesibbaths, and the sabbaths, and the eves <jf the new moons, and the new moons, and the feasts and solemn days of the house of Israel.

7 She was also of a goodly countenance, and very beautiful to behold: and her husband Manasses had left her gold, and silver, and menlervants, and maidservants, and cattle, and lands; and {be remained upon them.

8 And there was none that gave her an ill word; for she feared God greatly.

9 Now when me heard the evil words of the people against the governor, that they fainted for lack of water; for Judith had heard all the words that Ozias had spoken untothem, and that he had sworn to deliver the city unto the Assyrians after five days;

10 Then (he sent her waitingwoman, that had the government of all things that she had, to call Ozias and Chabris and Charmis, the ancients of the city.

11 And they came unto her, and she said unto them. Hear me now, O ye governors of the inhabitants of Bethulia: for your words that ye have spoken before the people this day are not right, touching this oath which ye made and pronounced between God and you, and have promised to deliver the city to our enemies, unless within these days the Lord turn to help you.

ill And now who are ye that have tempted God this day, and stand instead of God among the children of men i

1 j And now try the Lord Almighty, but ye (hall never know any thing.

14 For ye cannot find the depth of the heart of man, neither can ye perceive the things that he thinketh: then how can ye search out God, that hath made all these things, and know his mind, orcomprehendhis purpose? Nay, my brethren, provoke not the Lord our God to anger.

15 For if he will not help us within these five days, he hath power to defend us when he will, even every day, or to destroy us before our enemies.

16 Do not bind the counsels of the Lord our God: for God is not as man, that he may be threatened; neither is he as the son of man, that he should be wavering.

17',: Therefore let ut wait for salvation of him, and call upon him to help us, and he will bear our voice, if it please aim,

Apocrypha. JUD

18 For there arose none in onr age, neither it there any now in these days, neither tribe, nor family, nor people, nor city among us, which worship goiis made with hands, as hath been aforetime.

19 For the which cause our fathers were given to thefword, and fora spoil, and had a great fall before our enemies.

•10 But we know none other god, therefore we trust that he will not despise us, nor any of our nation.

a 1 For if we be taken so, all Judea (hall lie waste, and our sanctuary shall be spoiled; and he will require the profanation thereof at our mouth.

»i And the slaughter of our brethren, and the captivity of the country, and the desolation of ourinheritance.will beturn upon our heads among the Gentiles, wheresoever we shall be in bondage; and we shall be an offence and a reproach to all them that possess us.

13 For our servitude shall not be directed to favour: but the Lord our God shall turn it to dishonour.

44 Now therefore, O brethren, let us shew an example to our brethren .because their hearts depend upon us, and the sanctuary, and the house, and the altar, rest upon us.

»5 Moreover let us give thanks to the Lord our God, which trieth us, even as he did our fathers.

a6 Remember what things he did to Abraham, and how he tried Isaac, and what happened to Jacob in Mesopotamia of Syria, when he kept the sheep of Laban his mother's brother.

»7 For he hath not tried us in the fire, as he did them, for the examination of their hearts, neither hath he taken vengeance on us: but the Lord doth scourge them that come near unto him, toadmonishtbem.

18 Then said Ozias to her, All that thou haft spoken haft thou spoken with a good heart, and there is none that may gainsay thy words.

19 For this is not the first day wherein thy wisdom is manifested; but from the beginning of thy days all the people have known thy understanding, because the disposition of thine heart is £°od.

30 But the people were very thirsty, and compelled us to do unto them as we have spoken, andto bring an oath upon ourselves, which we will not break.

31 Therefore now pray thou for us, because thou art a godly woman, and the

Lord will send Hsrain to fill our cisterns, and we shall faint no more.

31 Then said Judith unto them, Hear me, and I will do a thing, which shall go throughout all generations to the children of our nation.

33 Ye shall stand this night in the gate, and I will go forth with my waitingwoman: and within the days that ye hate promised to deliver the city to our enemies the Lord will visit Israel by mine band.

34 But enquire not ye of mine act: for 1 will not declare it unto you, till the things be linilhed that I do.

3 j Then said Ozias and the princes unto her, Go m peace, and the Lord God , be before thee, to take vengeance on our enemies.

36 So they returned from the tent,ar.d went to their wards.

CHAP. IX. 1 "Judith hut/ibleth herself, a and prtrjetk

God to prosper her purpose against t.-.e

enemies of Ms sanflua ry.

THEN Judith fell upon her face, and putaslies upon her head, aDd uncovered the sackcloth wherewith (he 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 aloud voice, and said,

»TTO Lord God of my father Simeon, to whom thou gavest a sword to take vengeance of the It rangers, 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 said ft, It shall not be so; and yet they did so:

3 Wherefore 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; 4 And 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.

5 For thou haft 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.

6 Yea, what things thou didst determine were ready at hand, and said, Lo, we are here? for all thy ways are prepared,