Judith 16

Verse 1. Sung. Greek “Gave out this confession, in all Israel: and all the people echoed this praise;” ( Bible.) either repeating the whole after her, or singing the first verse as a chorus. Exodus 15:20. 1 Kennicott. 18:6. 1 Chronicles 16:8. Calmet.—Saying. Greek “And Judith said: Begin ye to my Lord.” Bible.—It is time for us to break silence, and to sound forth the praises of God. Calmet.

Verse 3. Wars, or destroying armies. Bible.—God is often represented as a mighty warrior. Isaiah 1:24. Jeremiah 2:20. Romans 9:29. Calmet.—This passage is quoted by S. Ephrem (ser. de 2. Adv.) as a part of Scripture. Worthington.—Lord is. Greek “For he has drawn me from the hands of my persecutors, into his camp, in the midst of the people.” Bible.

Verse 5. Mountains of Cilicia, and through the defiles of Libanus and Hermon, on the north of Palestine, by which road they were forced to come. The desert Arabia was impassable for a large army. Calmet.—North, including to the east. Bible. Isaiah 14:13. Jeremiah 1:13. Ezekiel 1:4.—Torrents, drinking them up, as Sennacherib boasted; (4 Kennicott. 19:24) and the Greek assert the same of the army of Xerxes. Herod. vii. 108.

Epotaque flumina Medo

Prandente. Juv x.

The Greek seems to insinuate that the Assyrians “stopped up the springs,” to distress the country, as Philopator did. Calmet.—Valleys. Greek “hills.”

Verse 6. To make. Greek “that he would throw my children at the breast, on the pavement, and make,” and so forth Bible.

Verse 7. Stuck. Lit. “hurt him, overturning all his projects, ( Calmet.) as the Greek (ηθετησεν) intimates. Menochius.—Him. Greek “them, by the hand of a woman: For,” and so forth

Verse 8. Men; soldiers. Calmet. 14:6. Genesis 14:24.—Titan. So the Septuagint renders Raphaim. 2 Kennicott. 5:18. The Greek translator of this work seems to have read the poets, who pretend that the Titans attempted to take heaven by storm. Calmet.—Neither such giants as those who lived before the flood, (Genesis 6) nor such as were seen after, (Numbers 13. Worthington.) attacked Holofernes. Bible.—Neither does the Vulgate give any authority to poetic fictions, but only adopts terms which are best understood. Tirinus. Saint Jerome in Amos verse 8.

Verse 9. And put. Greek “for the exaltation of those who laboured in Israel.”

Verse 10. Crown. Greek “mitre,” or ribband, ornamented with jewels. Calmet. 10:3. Syr. “net-work.”—New. Greek “linen stole,” which was a long robe, usually of linen, and worn both by men and women. Calmet.—Deceived him; as he would make love to her, and thus give her an opportunity to perform what she had designed. Bible.—She was not actuated by the desire of being admired, but sought to deliver her people, verse 9. Menochius.

Verse 11. Sandals. The bandages which tied the shoe-soles ( Bible.) to the feet, were most ornamental. Isaiah 3. The city of Antylla was assigned to furnish sandals for the queens of Egypt. Herod. xii. 98. Calmet.—With. Greek “a sword (acinace) passed through his neck.”

Verse 12. Medes. This is the first mention of these two nations, who afterwards became so famous. Nabuchodonosor had overcome Phraortes. Calmet. 1. Calmet.

Verse 13. Then. Greek “Than my lowly ones ( Bible. she speaks thus contemptuously of the Assyrians. Calmet.) howled, my weak ones cried out through fear; they raised their voice, and were overthrown.” Bible.—Others think that she is speaking of her fellow-citizens, ( Tirinus.) or both. Bible.

Verse 14. Damsels; young boys. Syr. “they run them through, as if they had been damsels.”—Children, or “slaves.” Syr. Being this overtaken, what could they do but sue for pardon? Calmet.—Before. Greek “of the Lord,” and so forth

Verse 15. Let. Greek “I will sing a new hymn to the Lord. Lord, thou art great.” Bible.

Verse 17. Spirit, and they. Greek “he built” the world. Genesis 1:8. Psalms 32:9. Calmet.

Verse 18. Waters, by earthquakes and storms. Job 9:5. Isaiah 5:25. Psalms 17:8.

Verse 19. Great. Greek “treated mercifully by thee: for little with thee is all sacrifice, for the odour of sweetness; and all fat is but the least for thy holocausts. But he who fears the Lord, is ever great.” Bible.—This text is remarkable, as it shews ( Calmet.) that no sacrifice can please God, without interior holiness. Outward magnificence will be otherwise rejected with contempt. Worthington.

Verse 20. He will visit them, is not in Greek, and only expresses the same again. Bible.

Verse 21. Flesh, which is thus punished for ever, (Saint Augustine de Civ. Dei xxv. 4.) while the soul is still more tormented with the loss of God’s vision. Worthington.—The bodies of those who persecute God’s people, will not only be thrown out with ignominy, but the impenitent shall suffer eternal torments. These worms and fires do not cease. They are not merely figurative, but real, according to the Fathers. Serar. q. 1. Tirinus. Essais de Mor.—Though the damned have not yet their bodies, they are no less affected with pain; as people who have lost a member, often seem to feel pain in it. That our soul should even now suffer, when the body is hurt, depends on God’s appointment. The Jews spoke of eternal torments in similar terms. Sirach 7:19. Isaiah 66:24. Mar. 9:45.

Verse 22. And. Greek “But as soon as they arrived at Jerusalem, they adored God; and when the people were purified, they offered their holocausts, and free gifts, and presents.” Bible.—They stood in need of purification, as they had shed blood, and had touched so many things of the Assyrians, which were to them unclean. Calmet. Numbers 31:24.

Verse 23. An anathema of oblivion. That is, a gift or offering made to God, by was of an everlasting monument, to prevent the oblivion or the forgetting of so great a benefit. Challoner.—Yet some would read ( Calmet.) oblationis, instead of oblivionis. Tirinus.—Greek and Syr. say nothing of oblivion. The Scriptures, and pagan histories, are full of such monuments of gratitude, to perpetuate the memory of benefits received from above. Calmet.—Greek “to the Lord, all the vessels,” or furniture. Calmet. 15:14. Bible.—Joseph called one of his sons, Manasses, because God had caused him to forget his former toils. Genesis 41:51. Menochius.—Judith’s husband had the same name; and this victory made her forget past sorrow. Bible.

Verse 24. Three. Syr. “one entire month.” Calmet.—Joy. Greek “and Judith remained with them.”

Verse 25. Was made. Greek “returned also to Bethulia, and dwelt on her own possessions; and in her time, was honourable throughout all the land.”