Ἰουδήθ
Judith
Translated by Ross Scaife ✝29 Oct 2002Vetting: high7 revisions
Translation
[It is said] that in the time of Xerxes, king of the Persians,1 the Ethiopian kings rose up against the Persians, and when the king campaigned against them, the Jews looked to the revolt and, contemptuous of the king, went to Jerusalem. But when this man [i.e.. Xerxes] got the best of the Aethiopians he campaigned against the Jews, entrusting the war against them to Holophernes. While Holophernes was besieging Jerusalem, a certain woman named Judith feigned love for him; while he slept, at night she severed his head, and after impaling this atop the wall, she prepared to flee from the Persians. That is how the siege was lifted and the Jews released from their terror. But Nemesias, a priest of the Jews, spoke frankly to him [i.e. Xerxes] and persuaded him to make peace with [the Jews] and to allow them to rebuild Jerusalem, with Esdra as their leader.2 But Julius Africanus claims that it was Nebuchadnezzar, a.k.a. Cambyses, who was killed by her.3