The XIIII. Chapter.
[ A] IVdith saide vnto all the people: Bre¦thren heare me, Styck vp this hea∣de vpon oure walles, and whan the Sonne aryseth, take euery man his weapen, and fall out violently: not as though ye wol¦de go besyde them, but to renne vpon them with violence. Whan the spyes in the tētes se this, they shall of necessite be cōpelled to fle bacwarde, and to rayse vp their captay∣ne to the battayll. So whā their captaynes come in to Holofernes pauylion, and fynde the deed body wrapped in the bloude, fear∣fulnes shall fall vpon them: and whan ye perceaue that they fle, folowe them with∣out all care, for God shal delyuer them vnto you to be destroyed.
Then Achior seynge the power of God which he had shewed vnto the people of Is∣rael, fell of from his Heithenish beleue, and put his trust in God, and let him self be cir∣cumcided: and so was he nombred amonge the people of Israel, he and all his posterite vnto this daye.
Now as soone as it was daye, they stick∣te [ B] vp Holofernes heade vpon the walles, and euery man toke his weapen, and so they wente out with an horrible crye. Whan the spyes sawe that, they ranne vnto Holofer∣nes tent. And they that were within the tēt, came before his chamber, and made a greate russzhinge to wake him vp, because they thought with the noyse to haue raised him. For there durst not one of the Assirians knoc¦ke, go in, ner to open.
But whan the captaynes and prynces and all the chefe in the kynge of the Assiri∣ans hoost came together, they saide vnto the chamberlaynes: Go youre waye in, and wa∣ke him vp, for the myse are crepte out of their holes, and darre prouoke vs vnto battayll.* 1.1
Then wente Vagao in to his chamber, [ C] stode before the bed, and clapped with his handes, for he thought he had bene slepyn∣ge with Iudith.
But whā he had herkened perfectly with his eares, and coude perceaue no sterynge, he wente nyer to the bed, and lift it vp, and then sawe he the deed body of Holofernes ly¦enge there without a heade, weltred in his bloude vpon the earth. Then cried he with loude voyce, and with wepynge rent his clo¦thes, and wente in to Iudiths tent, and foun¦de her not: And so he leapte out vnto the peo¦ple, and sayde: one womā of ye Iewes, hath brought all Nabuchodonosors people to sha¦me. For lo, Holofernes lyeth vpō the groun∣de, and hath no heade.
Whan the chefe of the assirians hoost her¦de that, they rente their clothes, and there fell an intollerable feare and tremblinge vpō them, so yt theyr myndes were sore afrayed. And there was an exceadynge greate crye in the whole hoost.