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being one hundred seventy foot-soldiers and twelve thousand cavalry, apart from the baggage train; and he encamped beside it. Then he decided not to fight, but to seize in advance the waters from which they drew water, so that overcome by thirst they might perish or surrender their city. And he placed a part of the army around the waters as guards. And for thirty-four days, while the enemy was besieging them, their water failed them, and the people gathered to the rulers, and demanded to give up the city and themselves to the enemy, so that they might either serve them and live, or be slaughtered and be delivered from their pains. But Ozias, the chief of the city, said, "Brothers, let us wait five more days, and 1.214 if help comes to us from God; but if not, I will do according to your counsel." Now there was in that city a woman whose name was Judith, and the woman was a widow, and she was prudent and wise and beautiful in appearance. When she heard, therefore, what had been decided by the people and the rulers, she sent for Ozias and the other rulers of the city, and she blamed them for testing God because they said they would surrender the city to the enemy after five days, if some help from God did not come to them within them. And they agreed that she spoke well, but they set against it the thirst of the people and the violence from it. And she instructed them to stand at the gate of the city that night, and she said that she would go out with her maid, but not to tell them what she was planning, until it was directed towards action. and they said to her, "Go." And they departed, but she turned to supplication to God. Then taking off the mournful garment of her widowhood, and having washed her body with water and anointed herself with myrrh, she put on a joyous garment and put ornaments upon herself. And having adorned herself to be more alluring, she gave to her maidservant to carry in vessels wine and oil and a bag full of barley meal and of a cake of figs and breads, and she and her maidservant went out of the city, going toward the camp of the enemy. And encountering the Assyrian advanced guard, she was seized and was led to Holofernes. And he marveled at her beauty and said to her, "Do not be afraid; for you have come for salvation." And the woman said to him, "Receive my 1.215 words, my lord, and let the word which Achior spoke be in your heart; for it is true; that if the sons of Israel do not sin, no sword will prevail against them, but now since their food and water has failed them, they have resolved to touch even those things forbidden by the law, and the first-fruits of the grain and the tithes of the wine which are kept for the priests, which it is not lawful for another even to touch, they have decided to consume. And since those who dwell in Jerusalem have also resolved these things, they have sent to the senate there, asking for a release concerning these things. And if they thus transgress the law, there will be for them no defense from God, and they will be given over to destruction. Having recognized this, I am fleeing from the city, that I may escape the destruction. And now I will remain with you, master, and I will go out by night into the valley, and I will pray to God, and He will tell me when they have sinned, and I will report it to you, and I will lead you through Judea to Jerusalem, and I will set your throne in its midst." And her words pleased Holofernes, and he commanded that she be brought into the tent of his treasury and that food be given to her. But she said, "I will not eat of your food, lest it become a stumbling block for me, but I will be fed from what I have brought with me." And Holofernes said to her, "But if these things should run out, from where will such things be supplied to you?" And she answered, "As your soul lives, my lord, my provisions will not run out before God accomplishes by my hand what He has planned." And in the middle of the night she asked to go out to the valley for prayer, and Holofernes permitted it; and for three days she did so. And on the fourth day Holofernes prepared a drinking party, and he said 1.216 to the eunuch Bagoas, who was set over all his affairs, "Persuade now the Hebrew woman to

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ουσαν πεζῶν ἑκατὸν ἑβδομήκοντα καὶ ἱππέων χιλιάδας δώδεκα, χωρὶς τῶν τῆς ἀποσκευῆς· καὶ ἐστρατοπεδεύσατο παρ' αὐτῇ. ειτα εγνω μὴ πολεμεῖν, ἀλλὰ τὰ υδατα προκαταλαβεῖν οθεν ὑδρεύοντο, ιν' ἐκλιπόντες τῇ δίψῃ διαφθαρῶσιν η τὴν πόλιν αὐτῶν παραδώσουσι. καὶ περιέστησε μέρος τῆς στρατιᾶς τοῖς υδασι φύλακας. ἐπὶ δὲ τέσσαρσι καὶ τριάκοντα ἡμέραις περικαθημένων τῶν ἐναντίων αὐτούς, ἐξέλιπε σφίσι τὸ υδωρ, καὶ ἠθροίσθη πρὸς τοὺς αρχοντας ὁ λαός, καὶ ἠξίουν ἐκδοῦναι τὴν πόλιν τοῖς ἐναντίοις καὶ ἑαυτούς, ιν' η δουλεύσωσιν ἐκείνοις καὶ ζήσονται η κατασφαγέντες ἀπαλλαγῶσι τῶν ἀλγεινῶν. ̓Οζίας δὲ ὁ τῶν τῆς πόλεως πρόκριτος "ετι" ειπεν, "ἀδελφοί, μείνωμεν πέντε ἡμέρας, καὶ 1.214 εἰ μὲν ηξει ἡμῖν βοήθεια ἐκ θεοῦ· εἰ δ' ου, ποιήσω κατὰ τὴν συμβουλίαν ὑμῶν." Ην δὲ ἐν τῇ πόλει ἐκείνῃ γυνὴ ῃ ονομα ̓Ιουδήθ, καὶ ἡ γυνὴ χήρα, καὶ αυτη σώφρων καὶ συνετὴ καὶ ὡραία τῇ οψει. ἀκούσασα τοίνυν τὰ δεδογμένα τῷ λαῷ καὶ τοῖς αρχουσι, μετεπέμψατο τὸν ̓Οζίαν καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς τῆς πόλεως αρχοντας, καὶ ἐμέμψατο αὐτοῖς ὡς πειράζουσι τὸν θεὸν οτι ειπον παραδώσειν τὴν πόλιν τοῖς ἐναντίοις μετὰ πέντε ἡμέρας, εἰ μὴ ἐν αὐταῖς ηξει τις αὐτοῖς βοήθεια ἐκ θεοῦ. οἱ δὲ καλῶς μὲν αὐτὴν συνέθεντο λέγειν, ἀντέθεντο δὲ τὴν δίψαν τοῦ λαοῦ καὶ τὴν βίαν τὴν ἐξ αὐτοῦ. κἀκείνη στῆναι αὐτοὺς τὴν νύκτα ἐπὶ τὴν πύλην τῆς πόλεως ἐνετέλλετο, αὐτὴ δὲ ελεγεν ἐξελεύσεσθαι μετὰ τῆς αβρας αὐτῆς, μὴ μέντοι αὐτοῖς ἐρεῖν τὸ παρ' αὐτῆς μελετώμενον, εως ου πρὸς πρᾶξιν κατευθυνθῇ. καὶ ειπον αὐτῇ "πορεύου." καὶ οἱ μὲν ἀπῆλθον, ἡ δὲ πρὸς παράκλησιν ἐτράπη τὴν πρὸς θεόν. ειτα ἀποθεμένη τὴν πενθήρη στολὴν τῆς χηρεύσεως, καὶ τὸ σῶμα περικλύσασα υδατι καὶ μύρῳ χρισαμένη, στολὴν μετενέδυ εὐφρόσυνον καὶ κόσμον ἑαυτῇ περιέθετο. καὶ καλλωπισθεῖσα πρὸς τὸ ἐπαγωγότερον εδωκε τῇ θεραπαίνῃ φέρειν ἐν ἀγγείοις οινον καὶ ελαιον καὶ πήραν ἀλφίτων πλήρη καὶ παλάθης καὶ αρτων, καὶ ἐξῆλθε τῆς πόλεως αὐτὴ καὶ ἡ παιδίσκη αὐτῆς ἀπιοῦσα πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἐναντίων παρεμβολήν. καὶ ἐντυχοῦσα τῇ τῶν ̓Ασσυρίων προφυλακῇ κατεσχέθη καὶ ηχθη πρὸς ̓Ολοφέρνην. ὁ δὲ αὐτῆς τὸ κάλλος ἐθαύμασε καὶ ειπεν αὐτῇ "μὴ φοβοῦ· ηκεις γὰρ εἰς σωτηρίαν." εφη δὲ αὐτῷ ἡ γυνή "δέξαι τοὺς 1.215 λόγους μου, κύριε, καὶ ὁ λόγος ον ἐλάλησεν ̓Αχιὼρ ητω ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ σου· εστι γὰρ ἀληθής· οτι ἐὰν μὴ ἁμάρτωσιν οἱ υἱοὶ ̓Ισραήλ, οὐ κατισχύσει ῥομφαία αὐτῶν, νῦν δὲ ἐπεὶ ἐξέλιπεν αὐτοὺς τὰ βρώματα καὶ τὸ υδωρ, ἐβουλεύσαντο καὶ τῶν τῷ νόμῳ ἀπηγορευμένων αψασθαι, καὶ τὰς ἀπαρχὰς τοῦ σίτου καὶ τὰς δεκάτας τοῦ οινου τὰς τοῖς ἱερεῦσι τετηρημένας, ων οὐδὲ ψαῦσαι θεμιτὸν ἑτέρῳ, δαπανῆσαι κεκρίκασι. ταῦτα δὲ καὶ τῶν τὴν ̔Ιερουσαλὴμ οἰκούντων βεβουλευμένων ἐστάλκασι πρὸς τὴν ἐκεῖ γερουσίαν, αφεσιν ἐπὶ τούτοις αἰτούμενοι. καν ουτω παρανομήσωσιν, οὐκ εσται σφίσιν αμυνα ἐκ θεοῦ, καὶ εἰς ολεθρον ἐκδοθήσονται. απερ αὐτὴ ἐπιγνοῦσα ἀποδιδράσκω τῆς πόλεως, ιν' ἐκφύγω τὸν ολεθρον. καὶ νῦν μενῶ παρὰ σοί, δέσποτα, καὶ ἐξελεύσομαι κατὰ νύκτα εἰς τὴν φάραγγα, καὶ προσεύξομαι πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ ἐρεῖ μοι πότε ἡμάρτοσαν, κἀγώ σοι ἀναγγελῶ, καὶ αξω σε διὰ τῆς ̓Ιουδαίας εως ̔Ιερουσαλήμ, καὶ θήσω τὸν θρόνον σου ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῆς." καὶ ηρεσαν ̓Ολοφέρνῃ οἱ λόγοι αὐτῆς, καὶ ἐκέλευσεν εἰσαχθῆναι αὐτὴν εἰς τὴν σκηνὴν τοῦ ταμείου αὐτοῦ καὶ δοθῆναι αὐτῇ φαγεῖν. ἡ δέ "οὐ φάγομαι" εφη "ἐκ τῶν ἐδεσμάτων ὑμῶν, μή μοι γένηται σκάνδαλον, ἀλλ' ἐξ ων ἐπιφέρομαι τραφήσομαι." καὶ ειπεν αὐτῇ ̓Ολοφέρνης "εἰ δὲ ἐκλίποι ταῦτα, πόθεν σοι τοιαῦτα χορηγηθήσεται;" ἡ δέ "ζῇ ἡ ψυχή σου, κύριέ μου" ἀνταπεκρίνατο, "οτι οὐ πρότερον ἐκλείψει μοι τὰ ἐδώδιμα πρὶν αν ὁ θεὸς ἐν χειρί μου ποιήσῃ α ἐβουλεύσατο." μεσούσης δὲ νυκτὸς ᾐτήσατο ἐπὶ τὴν φάραγγα πρὸς προσευχὴν ἐξελθεῖν, καὶ ̓Ολοφέρνης ἐπέτρεψε· καὶ ἐπὶ τρεῖς ἡμέρας ουτως ἐποίει. καὶ τῇ τετάρτῃ ἡμέρᾳ πότον ἡτοίμασεν ̓Ολοφέρνης, καὶ ειπε 1.216 τῷ εὐνούχῳ Βαγώᾳ, ος ην ἐφεστηκὼς ἐπὶ πάντων τῶν αὐτοῦ, "πεῖσον δὴ τὴν γυναῖκα τὴν ̔Εβραίαν τοῦ