As the Lord lives: Compare this with Judith’s ironic words to Holofernes in 12.4, where she says “As your soul lives, my lord.” The formula As the Lord lives was used in swearing or an oath to show that the speaker’s words were true, meaning “What I am about to say is just as true as the truth that God lives.” Good News Translation‘s addition, “I swear,” clarifies the function of “As the Lord lives” and makes a smooth transition to what follows. An alternative translation model is “Just as [or, as surely as] God lives, I assure you that…” (see also 11.7).
Who has protected me in the way I went is moved by Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version to the end of the verse as a summary to it, rather than a preface. Good News Translation has “the Lord took care of me through it all,” and Contemporary English Version “the Lord protected me at all times.” Judith assures the people by this summary that she has not been violated.
It was my face that tricked him to his destruction: Good News Translation has “my beauty deceived him and brought him to his ruin.” It may be important to preserve my face in some way; for example, “It was the beauty of my face that tricked him and led to his death.” She is assuring the people of her own complete sexual innocence here; she never tried to deceive Holofernes by baring any other part of her body. Another alternative rendering is “He was deceived and brought to ruin by a pretty face.”
Yet he committed no act of sin with me, to defile and shame me: Defile and shame are two separate acts. Defile refers to the sexual act, and shame refers to the subsequent shame that Judith would receive. So we may translate “He did not sin by raping me and so causing me shame.” Good News Translation combines these clauses into “I was not defiled or disgraced”; however, this leaves out the idea of no act of sin, which should be included, as in the above model. In languages that do not have the passive voice, one may say “He didn’t defile or disgrace me.”
Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Judith. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.