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16¹And Judith said,
Begin a song to my God with tambourines,
   sing to my Lord with cymbals.
Raise to him a new psalm;^*
   exalt him, and call upon his name.
² For the Lord is a God who crushes wars;
   he sets up his camp among his people;
   he delivered me from the hands of my pursuers.
³ The Assyrian came down from the mountains of the north;
   he came with myriads of his warriors;
their numbers blocked up the wadis,
   and their cavalry covered the hills.
⁴ He boasted that he would burn up my territory,
   and kill my young men with the sword,
and dash my infants to the ground,
   and seize my children as booty,
   and take my virgins as spoil.

⁵ But the Lord Almighty has foiled them
   by the hand of a woman.^*
6 For their mighty one did not fall by the hands of the young men,
   nor did the sons of the Titans strike him down,
   nor did tall giants set upon him;
but Judith daughter of Merari
   with the beauty of her countenance undid him.

⁷ For she put away her widow’s clothing
   to exalt the oppressed in Israel.
She anointed her face with perfume;
⁸   she fastened her hair with a tiara
   and put on a linen gown to beguile him.
⁹ Her sandal ravished his eyes,
   her beauty captivated his mind,
   and the sword severed his neck!
¹⁰ The Persians trembled at her boldness,
   the Medes were daunted at her daring.