12. And the two went out, according to their custom, as if to prayer, and they passed through the camp, and having circled around the valley, they came to the gate of the city.
13. And Judith, from a distance, spoke to the watchmen on the walls, "Open the gates, for God is with us, and he has acted with his power in Israel."
14. And it happened that, when the men had heard her voice, they called the elders of the city.
15. And all rushed toward her, from the least to the greatest. For, until then, they held no hope that she would return.
16. And, enflaming the lights, they gathered all around her. But she climbed up to a higher place, and she ordered them to be made silent. And when all had quieted down,
17. Judith said: "Praise the Lord our God, who has not abandoned those who hope in him.
18. And by me, his handmaid, he has fulfilled his mercy, which he promised to the house of Israel. And he has killed the enemy of his people, by my hand this night."
19. Then, taking the head of Holofernes from the bag, she displayed it to them, saying: "Behold, the head of Holofernes the leader of the military of the Assyrians, and behold his canopy, under which he reclined in his drunkenness, where the Lord our God struck him by the hand of a woman.
20. But, as the Lord himself lives, his angel has been my guardian both from my departure, and while staying there, and when returning from there. And the Lord has not permitted me, his handmaid, to be defiled, but he has called me back to you without the pollution of sin, rejoicing in his victory, in my escape, and in your liberation.
21. Confess everything to him, for he is good, for his mercy is with every generation."
22. Then everyone adored the Lord, and they said to her, "The Lord has blessed you by his power, because, through you, he has reduced our enemies to nothing."
23. Furthermore, Uzziah, the leader of the people of Israel, said to her: "O daughter, you have been blessed by the Lord, the most high God, above all the women on earth.