Judith’s prayer, to beg of God to fortify her in her undertaking.
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And when they were gone, Judith entered her place of prayer. And clothing herself with haircloth, she placed ashes on her head. And prostrating herself to the Lord, she cried out to the Lord, saying:
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“O Lord, God of my father Simeon, you gave him a sword to defend against foreigners, who stood out as violators by their defilement, and who uncovered the thigh of the virgin unto shame.(a)
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And you gave their wives into plunder, and their daughters into captivity, and all their spoils to be divided to the servants, who were zealous with your zeal. Bring help, I ask you, O Lord my God, to me, a widow.
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For you have acted in the past, and you have decided one thing after another. And what you have willed, this too has happened.
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For all your ways have been prepared, and you have placed your judgments within your providence.
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Look upon the camp of the Assyrians now, just as you deigned to look upon the camp of the Egyptians, when their weapons rushed after your servants, trusting in their four-horse chariots, and in their horsemen, and in a multitude of warriors.
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But you gazed upon their camp, and darkness wearied them.
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The abyss took hold of their feet, and the waters covered them.
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So may it be with these also, O Lord, who trust in their multitude, and in their swift chariots, and in their pikes, and in their shields, and in their arrows, and the glory in their lances.
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And they do not know that you are our God, who crushes wars from the beginning, and the Lord is your name.
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Raise up your arm, just as from the beginning, and throw down their power by your power. Let their power fall, in their anger, for they promise themselves to violate your sanctuary, and to pollute the tabernacle of your name, and to cut down by their sword the horn of your altar.
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Act, O Lord, so that his arrogance may be cut off with his own sword.
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Let him be seized by the snare of his own eyes in my regard, and may you strike him by the attraction of my lips.(b)
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Give me constancy in my soul, so that I may hold him in contempt, and give me virtue, so that I may overthrow him.
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For this will be a memorial to your name, when he will be overthrown by the hand of a woman.
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For your power, O Lord, is not in numbers, nor is your will with the strength of horses, nor from the beginning have the arrogant been pleasing to you. But the pleas of the humble and the meek have always pleased you.
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O God of the heavens, Creator of the waters, and Lord of all creation, heed me, a miserable thing, pleading you and depending on your mercy.
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Remember, O Lord, your covenant, and put your words in my mouth, and reinforce the plan in my heart, so that your house may continue with your sanctification,
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and so that all the nations may acknowledge that you are God, and there is no other beside you.”
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