She took the head out of the bag … and said, “See, here is the head of Holofernes, the commander of the Assyrian army: When Judith reaches into the food bag and pulls out the bloody head, one can imagine the scene. “Look! This is the head…” sounds a bit more fitting than simply saying “Here … is the head” (Good News Translation). Holofernes is identified here as the commander of the Assyrian army. The point here is that Judith identifies her victim by a grandiose title in utter sarcasm. The more magnificent the translator can make the title the more ridiculous the picture will be of the Israelite woman producing his severed head from a grocery sack. Alternative renderings for the title are “general in charge” and “chief general”—one is sorely tempted to say “head general,” but the temptation is to be resisted.

Here is the canopy beneath which he lay in his drunken stupor: The canopy functioned as a “mosquito net” (Good News Translation), but it was also a fine trophy of war since it was richly made (see 10.21, where it is described, and 13.9, where she grabs it). Lay in his drunken stupor may be rendered “while he lay there completely drunk.”

Struck him down may be rendered “killed him.”

By the hand of a woman: Compare 9.10 and 16.6; see also the notes on 8.33 and 13.14.

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.