A   Then songe Iudith thys songe vnto þe; Lorde. Begynne vnto the Lord vp&obar; the tabrettes, synge vnto the Lorde vpon the cymbales. O synge vnto hym a new songe of thankesgeuynge, be ioyfull ∧ call vpon hys name. It is the Lorde that destroyeth warres, euen the Lorde is hys name. Which hath pitched hys tentes &ibar; the myddest of hys people, that he myght delyuer vs from the hand of all oure enemyes. Assur came out of the mountaynes of the North in the multytude of hys str&ebar;gth. His people stopped the water brokes, and theyr horsses couered the valleyes. He purposed to haue brent vp my lande, B   and to slaye my yong men with the swerde.

He wolde haue caryed awaye my childr&ebar; and virgyns into captyuite, but þe; almyghtye lorde hyndred hym, and delyuered hym into the h&abar;des of a woman, which brought hym to confusyon. For theyr myghtie was not destroyed of the yonge men. It was not the sonne of Titan that slew hym, nether haue the greate gyauntes set them selues agaynst h&ibar;: but Iudith þe; daughter of Merari with her fayre bewtye hath disc&obar;fited hym, and brought hym to naught. For she layed awaye her wyddowes garment, and put on the apparel of gladnesse to the reioysynge of the chyldr&ebar; of Israel. She anoynted her face, and bounde vp her hearre in an hooue, to begyle h&ibar;. Her slyppers rauyshed his eyes, her bewtie captyuated his mynde, with the swerde smote she of hys neck. The Persians were astonnied at her stedfastnes and the Medes at her boldnes. Then howled the armyes of the Assyrians, when my symple appeared, drye of thryst. The s&obar;nes of the daughters haue pearsed th&ebar; thorowe and slayne them as fugytyue chyldren: they peryshed in the battayl, for the very feare of the Lorde my God. C   Let vs synge a songe of thankesgeuyng vnto the Lord, a new songe of prayse wyll we synge vnto oure God. Lorde, Lord, thou arte a great God, myghtye in power, whom no man may ouercome. All thy creatures shulde serue the: for thou spakest but the worde, and they were made: thou sentest thy spryte, and they were created, and no man can withstande thy voyce. The mountaynes shall moue from the fo&ubar;dacyons with the waters, the stonye rockes shall melt before the lyke waxe. But they þt; feare the: shalbe greate with the &ibar; all thynges. Wo vnto þe; people that ryse vp aga&ibar;st my generacyon, for the Almyghtye Lorde will auenge hym selfe of them, and in the daye of iudgement wyll he vyset them. For he shall geue fyre and wormes into theyr flesh, that they may burne and fele it for euermore.

D   After thys it happened, that after the victory, all the people came to Ierusal&ebar;, to geue prayse and thanckes vnto the Lorde. And when they were puryfyed, they offred all theyr brent sacryfyces and theyr promysed offrynges. And Iudith offred all Holofernes weapens, and all þe; Iewels, that the people had geuen her, and the canapy that she toke from his bed, and hanged them vp vnto the Lorde. The people was ioyfull, as the vse is: and this ioye by reason of the victory with Iudith, endured thre monethes.

So after these dayes, euery man wente home agayne, and Iudith was &ibar; greate reputacyon at Bethulya, and ryght honorably taken in all the l&abar;d of Israel. Unto her vertue also was chastyte ioyned, so that after her husbande Manasses dyed, she neuer knewe man all the dayes of her lyfe. Upon the hye solempne dayes she wente out with greate worshyppe. She dwelt in her husb&abar;des house an hundred and fyue yeare, ∧ left her handmayden fre, and dyed, and was buryed besyde her husb&abar;de in Bethulya. And all the people mourned for her seuen dayes. So longe as she lyued there was none that troubled Israel, and many yeares also after her death.

The daye wherin this victory was gotten, was solemply holden, and rekened of þe; Iewes in the nombre of the holy dayes, and it is yet greatly holden of the Iewes euer sence, vnto thys daye. ¶ The &ebar;de of the boke of Iudith, Ddd iiii

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