Judith 9:1-3
New Catholic Bible
The Prayer of Judith[a]
Chapter 9
Tribal Memories. 1 Then Judith prostrated herself, strewed ashes on her head, and uncovered the sackcloth she was wearing. At the same time when the evening incense was being offered in the temple of God in Jerusalem, Judith besought the Lord in a loud voice:
2 “O Lord, God of my ancestor Simeon,
you have armed him with a sword
so that he could exact vengeance on those foreigners
who had torn off a virgin’s girdle to defile her,
exposed her thighs to cause her to be ashamed,
and violated her womb to dishonor her.
“Even though you had warned them,
‘This must not happen,’
they proceeded to do so.[b]
3 As a result, you turned over their rulers
to be slaughtered,
and you covered with their blood
the bed that they had defiled with their treachery.
You struck down slaves as well as their princes,
even princes as they sat on their thrones.
Footnotes
- Judith 9:1 It is the hour of evening prayer. In union with the worshipers in the temple, Judith prostrates herself and addresses a long prayer to God (see Neh 9:5f; Tob 3:1f; 4:11f; Est 4:17f).
- Judith 9:2 The virgin referred to was Dinah, daughter of Jacob, who was victimized by the Hivite Shechem (Gen 34:2). In revenge, Dinah’s brothers, Simeon and Levi, persuaded Shechem and the men of his city into being circumcised and then slew them while they lay weak in bed (see Gen 34:13-29).
