Judith 9:1-2
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 9
The Prayer of Judith.[a] 1 Judith fell prostrate, put ashes upon her head, and uncovered the sackcloth she was wearing. Just as the evening incense was being offered in the temple of God in Jerusalem, Judith cried loudly to the Lord:(A) 2 “Lord, God of my father Simeon, into whose hand you put a sword to take revenge upon the foreigners[b] who had defiled a virgin by violating her, shaming her by uncovering her thighs, and dishonoring her by polluting her womb. You said, ‘This shall not be done!’ Yet they did it.
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- 9:1–14 Judith prepares to confront the enemy by turning to God, the source of her strength. Her prayer, an individual lament, moves from a remembrance of God’s saving deeds of the past to an appeal to God to exercise the same power in the present. Judith contrasts the empty pride of the Assyrians with God’s surpassing might, powerful enough to be exercised in unlikely ways, even through the hand of a woman.
- 9:2 The foreigners: Shechem, the Hivite, violated Dinah, Jacob and Leah’s daughter (Gn 34:2). Defiled a virgin by violating her: meaning of the Greek is unclear; lit., “who loosened the virgin’s womb (metran) to defilement.” Some read “headdress” or “girdle” (mitran) instead of “womb” (metran).
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