Book of Judith Judith, written by Unknown Jewish author
Create a PlanJudith tells how Nabuchodonosor sends his general Holofernes to subdue the west and make every nation worship the king alone, until his army besieges the small Israelite town of Bethulia and cuts off its water. As the elders agree to surrender within five days, Judith, a devout and wealthy widow, rebukes them for putting God to the test, prays, and goes down to the enemy camp in all her beauty. On the fourth night she beheads the drunken Holofernes in his tent, and the leaderless army flees. The book is a story of faith in a God who saves through the weak, told with irony and suspense.
Chapters in Judith
Outline of Judith
Nabuchodonosor defeats Arphaxad, then sends Holofernes west to punish the nations that refused him; they submit, and their gods are destroyed.
Israel fasts and holds the passes, Achior warns Holofernes about Israel's God and is handed over to Bethulia, and the town, cut off from its water, gives God five days.
The widow Judith reproaches the elders for testing God, announces a plan she will not explain, and asks God to strike the proud by a woman's hand.
Judith, adorned, wins Holofernes' trust with a double-edged speech, keeps her food laws and her prayer, and is invited to his feast.
Achior joins Israel, the Assyrians find their leader headless and flee, and the high priest comes to bless Judith.
Key Themes in Judith
God Saves Through the Weak
A mighty empire is undone not by an army but by a widow from a small town, and the book repeats that the enemy fell 'by the hand of a woman'.
Trust Without Testing God
Judith condemns the five-day ultimatum: God may be prayed to and waited for, but not given a deadline, and suffering can be a trial rather than a rejection.
Who Is God?
Nabuchodonosor wants to be worshipped as the only god; Achior, an Ammonite, recognises the God of Israel and ends by joining his people.
Faithfulness in Everyday Practice
Judith's courage rests on fasting, prayer at set hours and food laws she keeps even in the enemy's tent.
Key Verses in Judith
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.
Judith's rebuke to the elders: God is not bound by the conditions people set him, and trust leaves him free to act in his own time.
For thy power standeth not in multitude nor thy might in strong men: for thou art a God of the afflicted, an helper of the oppressed, an upholder of the weak, a protector of the forlorn, a saviour of them that are without hope.
The heart of Judith's prayer: God's strength does not lie in numbers, and he takes the side of the weak and the humble.
Then said Ozias unto her, O daughter, blessed art thou of the most high God above all the women upon the earth; and blessed be the Lord God, which hath created the heavens and the earth, which hath directed thee to the cutting off of the head of the chief of our enemies.
Ozias's blessing of Judith, whose words return almost exactly in Elizabeth's greeting to Mary.
And when they came unto her, they blessed her with one accord, and said unto her, Thou art the exaltation of Jerusalem, thou art the great glory of Israel, thou art the great rejoicing of our nation:
The high priest and the elders hail Judith as the glory of her people; the words entered Christian liturgy.
Characters in Judith
Locations in Judith
Christ in Judith
Blessed Among Women
Ozias blesses Judith above all the women on earth; Elizabeth greets Mary with the same words, and the Church has long read Judith as a figure of Mary.
LUK 1:42The Proud Brought Down
Judith's prayer and song celebrate a God who breaks the proud and lifts the lowly, the very reversal Mary sings in the Magnificat.
LUK 1:51-53Do Not Put God to the Test
Judith refuses to give God a deadline; tempted in the wilderness, Jesus likewise refuses to force God's hand.
MAT 4:7Frequently Asked Questions
You are readingKing James Version