A   Then commaunded he her to go in, where his treasure laye, and charged that she shulde haue hyr dwellynge there, and appoynted, what shulde be geuen her fr&obar; his table. Iudith answered him, and sayde: ^note As for the meate that thou hast commaunded to geue me, I maye not eate of it as now (lest I displease my God) but wyl eate of soch as I haue brought with me. Then sayde Holofernes vnto her: Yf these thinges that thou hast brought with the fayle, what shal we do vnto the? And Iudith sayde: As truly as thou lyuest my lorde, thy hande mayden shall not spende all this, tyll God haue brought to passe in my hande, the thinges that I haue deuysed.

B   So his seruauntes brought her in to the tent, where as he had appointed. And as she was goinge in, she desyred that she might haue leue to go forth by night ∧ before daye, to hir prayer and to make intercession vnto the LORDE. Then commauuded Holofernes his chamberlaynes, that she shulde go out and in at hir pleasure, to praye vnto hir God those thre dayes.

And so in the night season she w&ebar;te forth in to the valley of Bethulia, and was&esset;hed hirself in the wellwater. Then wente she vp, and besought the LORDE God of Israel that he wolde prospere hir waye, for the delyueraunce of his people. And so she wente in, and remayned cleane in hir tent, till she toke hir meate in the euenynge.

C   Vpon þe; fourth daye it happened, þt; Holofernes made a costly supper vnto his serua&ubar;tes, and sayde vnto Vagao his chamberlayne:

Go þi; waye, and councell this Hebruesse, that she maye be wyllynge to consent to kepe company with me. For it were a shame vnto all the Assirians, that a woman shulde so laugh a man to scorne, that she were come from him vnmedled withall.

Then wente Vagao vnto Iudith, and sayde: Let not the good daughter be afrayed, to come in to my lorde, that she maye be honoured before him, that she maye eate and drynke wyne, and be mery with him. Vnto whom Iudith answered: Who am I, that I shulde saye my lorde naye? what so euer is good before his eyes, I shal do it: and loke what is his pleasure, that shal I thinke well done, as longe as I lyue.

D   So she stode vp, and deckte hirself with hir apparell, and wente in, and stode before him. And Holofernes hert was whole moued, so that he brent in desyre towarde her. And Holofernes sayde vnto her: drynke now and sytt downe, and be mery, for thou hast founde fauoure before me. Then sayde Iudith: Syr, I wil drynke, for my mynde is meryer to daye, then euer it was in all my life. And she toke and ate and dranke before him, the thinges that hir mayden had prepared for her. And Holofernes was mery &wt; her, and dranke more wyne, then euer he dyd afore in his life.

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