Judith

And when they were gone, Judith went into her oratory: and putting on haircloth, laid ashes on her head: and falling down prostrate before the Lord, she cried to the Lord, saying:

Lord God of my father Simeon, who gavest him a sword to execute vengeance against strangers, who defiled a virgin by their uncleanness, and uncovered the thigh unto her confusion, and profaned the womb of her to her dishonour: For thou saidst: It shall not be so, and they did so.

For which thou gavest their rulers to be slain, and their bed which was deceived in the deceit of their soul, to be stained with blood, and thou struckest the servants together with their lords, and the lords together with their servants.

And thou gavest their wives to be made a prey, and their daughters into captivity: and all their spoils to be divided to the children that loved thee, who were zealous for thy zeal, and abhorred the stain of their blood, and called upon thy name for help.

O God, my God, hear me a widow.

For thou hast done the things of old, and hast devised one thing after another: and what thou hast designed hath been always done.

For all thy ways are prepared, and in thy providence thou hast placed thy judgments.

Look upon the camp of the Assyrians now, as thou wast pleased to look upon the camp of the Egyptians, when they pursued armed after thy servants, trusting in their chariots, and in their horsemen, and in a multitude of warriors.

But thou lookedst over their camp, and darkness wearied them.

The deep held their feet, and the waters overwhelmed them.

So may it be with these, O Lord, who trust in their multitude, and in their chariots, and in their pikes, and in their shields, and in their arrows, and glory in their spears,

And know not that thou art our God, who destroyest wars from the beginning, and the Lord is thy name.

Lift up thy arm as from the beginning, and crush their power with thy power: let their power fall in their wrath, who promise themselves to violate thy sanctuary, and to defile the dwelling place of thy name, and to beat down with their sword the horn of thy altar.

Send them a spirit of humility, that they may be brought low, and let their strength be turned into shame.

But send me a spirit of strength, that I may bring them to a shameful punishment.

For this shall be a monument of thy name, when he shall fall by the hand of a woman.

For thy power, O Lord, is not in a multitude, nor is thy pleasure in the strength of horses, nor from the beginning have the proud been acceptable to thee: but the prayer of the humble and the meek hath always pleased thee.

O God of the heavens, creator of the waters, and Lord of the whole creation, hear me a poor wretch, making supplication to thee, and presuming of thy mercy.

Remember, O Lord, thy covenant, and put thou words in my mouth, and strengthen the resolution in my heart, that thy house may continue in thy holiness:

And all nations may acknowledge that thou art God, and there is no other besides thee.