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Judith 9
And when they were gone, Judith went into her oratory:
and putting on haircloth, laid ashes on her head: and
falling down prostrate before the Lord, she cried to
the Lord, saying:
O Lord God of my father Simeon, who gavest him a sword
to execute vengeance against strangers, who had defiled
by their uncleanness, and uncovered the virgin unto
confusion:
And who gavest their wives to he made a prey, and their
daughters into captivity: and all their spoils to be
divided to thy servants, who were zealous with thy zeal:
assist, I beseech thee, O Lord God, me a widow.
For thou hast done the things of old, and hast devised
one thing after another: and what thou hast designed
hath been done.
For all thy ways are prepared, and in thy providence
thou hast placed thy judgments.
Look upon the camp of the Assyrians now, as thou wast
pleased to look upon the camp of the Egyptians, when
they pursued armed after thy servants, trusting in their
chariots, and in their horsemen, and in a multitude
of warriors.
But thou lookedst over their camp, and darkness wearied
them.
The deep held their feet, and the waters overwhelmed
them.
So may it be with these also, O Lord, who trust in their
multitude, and in their chariots, and in their pikes,
and in their shields, and in their arrows, and glory
in their spears,
And know not that thou art our God, who destroyest wars
from the beginning, and the Lord is thy name.
Lift up thy arm as from the beginning, and crush their
power with thy power: let their power fall in their
wrath, who promise themselves to violate thy sanctuary,
and defile the dwelling place of thy name, and to beat
down with their sword the horn of thy altar.
Bring to pass, O Lord, that his pride may be cut off
with his own sword.
Let him be caught in the net of his own eyes in my regard,
and do thou strike him by the graces of the words of
my lips.
Give me constancy in my mind, that I may despise him:
and fortitude that I may overthrow him.
For this will be a glorious monument for thy name, when
he shall fall by the hand of a woman.
For thy power, O Lord, is not in a multitude, nor is
thy pleasure in the strength of horses, nor from the
beginning have the proud been acceptable to thee: but
the prayer of the humble and the meek hath always pleased
thee.
O God of the heavens, creator of the waters, and Lord
of the whole creation, hear me a poor wretch, making
supplication to thee, and presuming of thy mercy.
Remember, O Lord, thy covenant, and put thou words in
my mouth, and strengthen the resolution in my heart,
that thy house may continue in thy holiness:
And all nations may acknowledge that thou art God, and
there is no other besides thee.
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