JUDITH.
Chapter 8.
And it was done, when Judith, the widow, had heard these words, which was the daughter of Merari, the son of Ox, the son of Joseph, the son of Oziel, the son of Elkiah, the son of Ananias, the son of Gideon, the son of Raphain, the son of Ahitub, the son of Elijah, the son of Eliab, the son of Nathanael, the son of Salamiel, the son of Sarasadai, the son of Israel. 
And her husband was Manasseh, that was dead in the days of barley harvest; 
for he stood busily over men binding together reaps or sheaves in the field, and heat came upon his head, and he was dead in Bethulia his city, and he was buried there with his fathers. 
And Judith left of him, or living after him, was widow then three years and six months. 
And in the higher parts of her house she made to her a privy closet, in which she dwelled close with her damsels or her handwomen; 
and she had an hair-shirt on her loins, and she fasted all the days of life, except sabbaths, and the beginnings of months or new moons, or the first days of the moon, and the feasts of the house of Israel. 
And she was of full seemly beholding, to whom her husband had left many riches, and plenteous meine, and possessions full of or with droves of oxen, and of flocks of sheep. 
And this Judith was most famous among all men; for she dreaded God greatly, neither any was that spake of her an evil word. 
Therefore when this Judith had heard, that Uzziah had promised, that when the fifth day was passed, he would betake the city to Holofernes, she sent to the priests Chabris and Charmis. 
And they came to her; and she said to them, What is this word, in which Uzziah hath consented to betake the city to men of Assyria, if within five days help come not to us? 
And who be ye that tempt the Lord? 
This is no word that stirreth mercy; but rather it stirreth God’s wrath, and kindleth his madness. 
Have ye set a time of the mercy doing of the Lord, and in your will have ye set a day to him? Ye have set a time of mercy doing of the Lord, and in your doom ye have ordained a day to him. 
But for the Lord is patient, do we penance for this sin, and ask we with tears his forgiveness; 
for God shall not menace or threaten so as man, neither as a son of man he shall be inflamed to wrathfulness or to wrath. 
And therefore meek we our souls to him, and in a contrite spirit and made meek serve we to him; 
and say we weeping to the Lord, that after his will so he do his mercy with us; and as our heart is troubled or disturbed in the pride of our enemies, so have we glory in our meekness. 
For we have not pursued or followed the sins of our fathers, that forsook their God, and worshipped alien gods; 
for which great trespass they were given to their enemies into sword, and into raven, and into confusion; but we know not another God besides him. 
Therefore, we being meek, abide we his comfort, and he shall seek, or avenge, our blood of the torments or from the tormenting of our enemies; and he shall make meek all folks or all Gentiles, whichever have risen against us; and the Lord God shall make them without honour. 
And now, brethren, for ye be priests in the people of God, and the soul of them hangeth of you, raise ye up their hearts to God at your speech, that they be mindful, that our fathers were tempted, that they should be proved, whether they worshipped God verily or if verily they praised their God. 
They owe to be mindful, how our father Abraham was tempted, or assayed, and how he was proved by many tribulations, and he was made the friend of God. 
So Isaac, so Jacob, so Moses, and all that pleased the Lord, passed forth faithfully by many tribulations. 
And they that received not temptations with the dread of the Lord, and brought forth their unpatience, and the shame or the reproof of their grutching against the Lord, 
were destroyed of a destroyer, and they perished of serpents. 
And therefore avenge we not us or ourselves for these things which we suffer; 
but areckon we, that these same torments be less than our sins, and believe we, as servants of the Lord that be chastised, that the beatings, or the torments, or the scourges of the Lord be come to our amending, and not to our perdition. 
And Uzziah and the priests said to Judith, All these things, that thou hast spoken, be sooth, and no reproving is in thy words. 
Now therefore pray thou for us, for thou art an holy woman, and dreading God. 
And Judith said to them, As ye know, that this thing, that I might speak, is of God, 
so prove ye, if this that I have purposed to do, is of God, and pray ye, that God make steadfast my counsel. 
Ye shall stand at the gate this night, and I shall go out or shall go forth with my free handmaid; and pray ye, that, as ye said, the Lord behold his people Israel these five days. 
But I desire not, that ye inquire my doing, and till I tell to you, none other thing be done or be there done none other thing of you, no but prayer for me to our Lord God or to the Lord our God. 
And Uzziah, the prince of Judah, said to her, Go thou in peace, and the Lord be with thee in the vengeance or the avenging of our enemies. And they, Uzziah and the priests, turned, and went away. 
