Texts in Conversation
Judith describes mountains shaking and waters surging in front of God, in a hymn of victory after Holofernes’ defeat. This echoes Deborah’s song in Judges where the mountains shake and the heavens pour down rain to announce Israel’s deliverance.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Judges 5:5
Hebrew Bible
3 Hear, O kings! Pay attention, O rulers! I will sing to the Lord! I will sing to the Lord God of Israel! 4 “O Lord, when you departed from Seir, when you marched from Edom’s plains, the earth shook, the heavens poured down, the clouds poured down rain. 5 The mountains trembled before the Lord, the God of Sinai; before the Lord God of Israel. 6 “In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael caravans disappeared; travelers had to go on winding side roads. 7 Warriors were scarce; they were scarce in Israel, until you arose, Deborah, until you arose as a motherly protector in Israel.
Date: 600–501 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Judith 16:15
Deuterocanon
13 “I will sing to my God a new song: O Lord, you are great and glorious, marvelous in strength, invincible. 14 Let all your creation serve you; for you spoke, and they were made. You sent out your spirit, and it built them. There is no one who can resist your voice. 15 For the mountains will be moved from their foundations with the waters, and the rocks will melt as wax at your presence: But you are yet merciful to those who fear you. 16 For all sacrifice is little for a sweet savor, and all the fat is very little for a whole burnt offering to you; but he who fears the Lord is great continually. 17 “Woe to the nations who rise up against my race! The Lord Almighty will take vengeance on them in the day of judgment and put fire and worms in their flesh; and they will weep and feel their pain forever.”
Date: 100 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... A fairly close parallel is Judges 5:4–5, with its depiction of trembling earth, melting mountains, and water pelting down from heaven; note in particular the similarity between Judges 5:5 and our text; see too Judges 5:20–21. The verb is found one more time in our text to describe the effect Judith has on Holophernes (12:16): Judith stirs his soul, just as God stirs mountains. Judith has described God as creator of the waters at 9:12, but the text is difficult: are the mountains shaken together with the waters or by means of the waters? The rushing waters also remind us of several verses of the Song of the Sea (Exodus 15:5, 8, 10) and the simile of rocks melting like wax brings to mind the two similes of the Egyptians sinking like a stone and sinking like lead found there (Exodus 15:5, 10) ..."
Deborah Levine Gera, Judith (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2014), 466–467.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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