Translating Judith

Judith tells the story of a brave Israelite woman determined to remain faithful to her religion while saving her hometown from an invasion.
Cast of characters in the book of Judith

The following list of characters is the order in which they occur in the book of Judith.

Nebuchadnezzar — King of Assyria.
Arphaxad — King of the Medes, defeated by Nebuchadnezzar.
Holofernes — Assyrian general who lays siege to the Israelite city of Bethulia. The villain of the story.
Joakim — Israelite high priest in Jerusalem.
Achior — Ammonite military leader who cautions Holofernes about the Israelites. Holofernes sends him off to Bethulia, where Holofernes’ soldiers tie him up and leave him. When Holfernes is killed, Achior becomes a believer in the God of Israel.
Uzziah — A leader of the Israelite city of Bethulia, and spokesman for the other leaders.
Chabris and Charmis — Two elders of Bethulia.
Judith — Heroine of the story, a beautiful Israelite widow.
Judith’s maid — An unnamed woman who accompanies Judith on her adventures.
Bagoas — Eunuch serving as personal attendant to Holofernes.

Some characteristics of the book of Judith

Judith is a well-crafted narrative telling how a faithful Israelite woman single-handedly defeats the Assyrian army threatening her hometown of Bethulia. Judith is not introduced until chapter 8. The first seven chapters are a slow buildup to her appearing on the scene, at which time the action speeds up and the narrative gains interest.

The book seems to reinvent history. Nebuchadnezzar appears here as King of Assyria, while the man known to history was King of Babylonia a century later. His opponent, Arphaxad of Media, is unknown. The book speaks of the Jewish people having returned from exile (4.3), yet the Assyrians, and Babylonians as well, were threats to the Israelite population before the exile. The geography of the book is just as odd. Holofernes’ army takes only three days to march 300 miles to southeastern Asia Minor, and then he fights in areas associated with North Africa. After this he attacks Mesopotamia, and the next thing we know he is in Palestine (2.21-28).

The historical and geographical errors in the book are so obvious that scholars today believe they are deliberate. They are a device of the author to direct the reader’s attention away from past history and to the story itself. The town of Bethulia, center of the action, is completely unknown. All of this suggests that the characters and events in the book are symbolic. Judith’s symbolism is obvious. The name Judith is simply the feminine form of the word “Jew,” and it is clear that she represents the faith and resources of the Jewish people. The military threat to Bethulia probably represents any kind of threat to Jerusalem and to Jewish integrity. People who faithfully follow the Law of God can oppose such a threat. Bethulia probably is derived from Bethel, which means “house of God,” so it is an imaginary representation of Jerusalem or Judea.

Judith is by far the most developed character in the story. She is beautiful, she is cunning, she is resourceful, she is brave. She is faithful to God, to Jewish tradition, and to the memory of her husband. She is also deceptive and willing to use her sexuality as a weapon against her enemy. She is as profound a thinker as the wise men of Israel (8.11-23). She can pray like a prophet (chapter 9), sing like a psalmist (chapter 16) and act with the bloody violence of one of the judges (13.4-9). Her fidelity and valor put to shame the men who rule in Bethulia.

Holofernes, with his boastfulness, exemplifies how those who dare oppose God’s purposes are reduced to fools. Claiming to act for his god Nebuchadnezzar, he reduces most of the world known at the time to ruins. Finally he prepares for a climactic assault on Bethulia to destroy all the Jewish people. But he meets a bloody end at the hands of a single Israelite woman.

Binding the two parts of the book (chapters 1–7 without Judith and chapters 8–16 with her) is the character of Achior, the Ammonite leader who functions much like Balaam does in the book of Numbers. A non-Israelite, he respects Israel and warns Holofernes against ill-advised action. Holofernes turns him over to the Israelites so he can meet his doom along with them, but after Judith’s conquest he appears again as a witness to Israel and Israel’s God, even joining the community of Israel as one of them.

The circumstances of the writing of Judith

The author is unknown. Various dates have been suggested for the writing of the book, but opinion today is heavily in favor of a date in the first century B.C. In 9.8 Judith’s words seem to reflect the experience of the Jews with Antiochus Epiphanes in the second century. Customs referred to in 8.6 and 11.13 seem to suggest an even later origin in the first century B.C., when the tradition of the Pharisees was widely known. The political organization of Israel in Judith, involving a high priest working alongside a senate, also seems to speak for a date as late as the first century B.C. Judith is referred to by the Christian writer Clement of Rome about A.D. 90. Since Clement knows the book in its Greek translation, we must allow time after writing for the book to become known, be translated, and be circulated in translation. The first century B.C. is consistent with these observations. There is general agreement that the book was originally written in Hebrew, though some would argue for Aramaic. Hebrew idioms are often easily discerned behind the Greek translation. Most scholars would venture that Judith was written in Palestine, although there is not a great deal of evidence to help solve this question.

The Greek text of Judith is in good shape, with relatively few difficult textual problems.

Outline of contents

Introduction: Nebuchadnezzar (1.1-16)
Part I: Holofernes (2.1–7.32)
Nebuchadnezzar’s orders to Holofernes (2.1-13)
Holofernes carries out Nebuchadnezzar’s orders (2.14–3.10)
Israel prepares for war (4.1-15)
Holofernes’ questions (5.1-4)
Achior’s answer (5.5-21)
The war council’s response (5.22-24)
Holofernes’ response to Achior (6.1-9)
The Assyrians expel Achior (6.10-13)
Achior in Bethulia (6.14-21)
Holofernes lays siege to Bethulia (7.1-18)
Conditions in Bethulia (7.19-32)
Part II: Judith (8.1–16.25)
Judith introduced (8.1-8)
Judith confronts the elders of Bethulia (8.9-36)
Judith’s prayer (9.1-14)
Judith carries out her plans (10.1-23)
Holofernes welcomes Judith (11.1-4)
Judith explains her plans to Holofernes (11.5-19)
Holofernes praises Judith (11.20-23)
Judith carries out her plans (12.1-9)
Judith kills Holofernes (12.10–13.10a)
Judith welcomed back to Bethulia (13.10b-20)
Judith’s plan (14.1-5)
Achior’s conversion (14.6-10)
Judith’s plan is carried out (14.11–15.7)
Judith is celebrated as a heroine (15.8-13)
Judith’s song of praise (16.1-17)
Judith’s later life (16.18-25)

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.