knowledge, and if thy God do to me these
things he shall be my God, and thou and thy name shall be great in the
house of Nebuchadnezzar. Then commanded Holofernes her to go in where
his treasure lay, and to abide there, and to give to her meat from his
feast, to whom she said that she might not eat of his meat, but that she
had brought meat with her for to eat. Then Holofernes said: When that
meat faileth what shall we give to thee to eat? And Judith said that she
should not spend all till God shall do in my hands those things that I
have thought. And the servants led her into his tabernacle, and she
desired that she might go out in the night and before day to pray, and
come in again. And the lord commanded his cubiculers that she should go
and come at her pleasure three days during. And she went out into the
valley of Bethulia and baptized her in the water of the well. And she
stretched her hands up to the God of Israel, praying the good Lord that
he would govern her way for to deliver his people; and thus she did unto
the fourth day. Then Holofernes made a great feast, and sent a man of
his, named Bagoas, for to entreat Judith to come eat and drink with him.
And Judith said: What am I that should gainsay my lord's desire. I am at
his commandment, whatsomever he will that I do, I shall do, and please
him all the days of my life. And she rose and adorned herself with her
rich and precious clothes, and went in and stood before Holofernes, and
Holofernes' heart was pierced with her beauty, and he said to her: Sit
down and drink in joy, for thou hast found grace before me. Judith said:
I shall drink my lord, for my life is magnified this day before all the
days of my life. And she ate and drank such as her handmaid had ordained
for her. And Holofernes was merry and drank so much wine that he never
drank so much in one day in all his life, and was drunken. And at even,
when it was night, Holofernes went into his bed, and Bagoas brought
Judith in to his chamber and closed the door. And when Judith was alone
in the chamber, and Holofernes lay and slept in overmuch drunkenness,
Judith said to her handmaid that she should stand without forth before
the door of the privy chamber and wait about, and Judith stood before
the bed praying with tears and with moving of her lips secretly, saying:
O Lord God of Israel, conform me in this hour to the works of my hands,
that thou raise up the city of Jerusalem as thou hast promised, and tha