In this poem, the biblical book of Judith (considered canonical by the Catholic Church but not by Protestants) has been recast in an unmistakably Anglo-Saxon mould, and with the characteristic theme that God rewards those who believe and trust in him with victory, glory and wealth.

The missing beginning of the poem presumably followed, in greater or lesser detail, the biblical account in telling how Holofernes, a general of the Assyrian army, has besieged the Judean city of Bethulia, whose leaders are preparing to surrender when Judith, a widow, ventures with a single maidservant to the Assyrian encampment. She pretends to defect and stays with the Assyrians for three days. By the fourth day, Holofernes is inflamed with desire for the beautiful widow, and here our fragment begins.

For an edition with in-depth commentary and glossary, see Mark Griffith, Judith (Exeter, 1997). Interested students may wish to consult other treatments of the story by the Anglo-Saxon writers Aldhelm (in Latin, translated by Michael Lapidge and Michael Herren, Aldhelm: The Prose Works (Ipswich and Cambridge, 1979), pp. 126-7, and Michael Lapidge and James L. Rosier, Aldhelm: The Poetic Works (Cambridge, 1985), p. 159) and Ælfric (ed. Bruno Assmann, Angelsächsische Homilien und Heiligenleben (1889; repr. Darmstadt, 1964), pp. 102-16). All who read this poem should also read the biblical book, available in Bibles published under Catholic auspices and also in separate editions of the Old Testament Apocrypha.