16:1
Then Yehudit began to sing this song of thanksgiving before all Yisra’el, and all the people sang with her:
16:2
“Begin to my Elohim with tambourines. Sing to Yahuah with cymbals. Raise to Him a new song. Exalt Him and call upon His Name.
16:3
For Yahuah is Elohim who breaks wars. For among the camps of His People He delivered me from the hand of those who pursued me.
16:4
Ashshur came from the mountains of the north. He came with ten thousands of his army. Their multitude blocked the wadis, and their horses covered the hills.
16:5
He said he would burn my borders, and kill my young men with the sword, and dash my nursing children to the ground, and give my little ones for spoil, and my maidens for captivity.
16:6
But Yahuah of Hosts brought them to nothing by the hand of an ishah.
16:7
For their mighty one did not fall by the hand of young men, nor did sons of Titans strike him, nor tall giants set upon him. But Yehudit, daughter of Merari, weakened him by the beauty of her face.
16:8
For she removed the garments of her widowhood for the exaltation of those afflicted in Yisra’el. She anointed her face with oil, bound her hair beneath a headband, and put on a linen garment to deceive him.
16:9
Her sandal captured his eye, and her beauty took his being captive. The sword passed through his neck.
16:10
The Paras trembled at her boldness, and the Madayim were shaken by her courage.
16:11
Then my lowly ones shouted, and my weak ones cried aloud, and they were terrified. My little ones raised their voice, and they trembled.
16:12
The sons of young women pierced them through and wounded them like children of fugitives. They perished before the battle of Yahuah.
16:13
I will sing to Yahuah a new song: Yahuah, You are great and glorious, wonderful in strength, and none can overcome You.
16:14
Let all Your creation serve You. For You spoke, and they came to be. You sent forth Your ruach, and it built them, and there is none who can resist Your voice.
16:15
For mountains shall be shaken from their foundations with the waters, and rocks shall melt like wax before Your face. But to those who fear You, You shall continue to show favor.
16:16
For every sacrifice of sweet aroma is small, and all fat is little for an ascending offering before You. But the one who fears Yahuah is great forever.
16:17
Woe to the nations that rise against my people. Yahuah Almighty shall take vengeance upon them in the day of Judgment. He shall give fire and worms into their flesh, and they shall weep in pain forever.”
16:18
And it came to pass, when they arrived at Yerushalayim, that they bowed down before Elohim. And after the people were purified, they offered their ascending offerings, their freewill offerings, and their gifts.
16:19
And Yehudit dedicated all the possessions of Holofernes which the people had given her, and the canopy which she had taken from his chamber, and she gave them as a devoted gift to Yahuah.
16:20
And the people continued rejoicing in Yerushalayim before the Sanctuary for three months, and Yehudit remained with them.
16:21
And after these days each one returned to his own Inheritance, and Yehudit returned to Beit-Uluyah and remained in her own possession. And she was honored throughout the land all the days of her life.
16:22
And many desired her, but no ish knew her all the days of her life from the day Menasheh her husband died and was gathered to his people.
16:23
And she increased greatly in honor, and grew old in the house of her husband, until she was one hundred and five years old. And she set free her maidservant. And she died in Beit-Uluyah, and they buried her in the burial cave of Menasheh her husband.
16:24
And the house of Yisra’el mourned for her seven days. And before she died, she divided her possessions among all those nearest to Menasheh her husband and among those nearest to her own family.
16:25
And there was none who made the sons of Yisra’el afraid in the days of Yehudit or for many days after her death.