She gave her maid a bottle of wine and a flask of oil, and filled a bag with parched grain and a cake of dried fruit and fine bread: For maid see the note at 8.10. Wine was carried in a “leather bag” (Good News Translation) or “leather bottle” (Contemporary English Version), not a glass bottle (New Revised Standard Version and New English Bible “skin of wine”). Flask of oil is “jar of oil” in Good News Translation and “small jar of olive oil” in Contemporary English Version. Without moving the phrase to carry from the end of the verse forward to this point, as in Good News Translation, the reader might mistakenly think the wine and oil were a gift to the maid. The bag was probably made of cloth. Parched grain translates one word; it more likely refers to barley than other grains, but it may refer not only to loose grain but also to bread made from it. Cake of dried fruit is not plural (Good News Translation “cakes”), but the fruit in question is surely figs, as in Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version. So this cake is not a baked good, made from grain, but it is a mass of dried figs pressed together. Fine bread is literally “pure/clean bread” and can be interpreted either of two ways. New English Bible (“the finest bread”) takes it to mean pure in quality. Good News Translation takes it to mean “baked according to Jewish food laws.” It is surprising to find bread mentioned as an accepted Jewish food. Perhaps unleavened bread is meant, but the special word for that is not used here. Still, Good News Translation‘s interpretation “bread baked according to Jewish food laws” is more likely than New English Bible‘s. While it is necessary to the story for Judith to wear her finest clothes, there is no particular reason for her to take along fine baked goods. It is essential, however, that the food be acceptable to eat; see 12.1-2. There is an important textual variant on this passage which is a viable option for the translator. Some manuscripts and versions read “bread and cheese,” instead of “pure bread.” The two readings look very much alike in Greek writing and could easily be confused. Since “pure/clean bread” is a strange phrase and not otherwise known, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible and New American Bible opt for “bread and cheese.” New Revised Standard Version thinks this option deserves at least a footnote, which it does. If the translator decides to stay with the traditional text, the most likely interpretation is that the bread Judith takes is pure according to Jewish law—or at least not impure (see Ezek 4.14-15). The bread was probably small flat loaves, and we may translate “several small flat loaves of bread baked according to Jewish law.”

She wrapped up all her vessels: “Dishes” (Good News Translation) refers not only to things like plates, but also to jars, pots, any other kind of vessel. The word translated wrapped is not used anywhere else. Perhaps it may refer simply to wrapping, but the idea of “carefully” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version) is quite likely there as well.

Good News Translation‘s translation of this verse will be a helpful model for many translators.

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.