The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Judith 02
1 In the eighteenth year, the twentysecond day
of the first month, there was
talk in the house of Nebuchadnezzar king
of the Assyrians that he should be avenged
on all the land, even as he spoke.
2 He called together all his servants and
all his great men, and communicated with
them his secret counsel, and with his own
mouth, recounted the wickedness of allthe
land.
3 They decreed to destroy all flesh which
didn’t follow the word of his mouth.
4 It came to pass, when he had ended his
counsel, Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians
called Holofernes the chief captain
of his army, who was second to himself,
and said to him,
5 “The great king, the lord of allthe earth,
says: ‘Behold, you shall go out from my
presence, and take withyoumen who trust
in their strength, to one hundred twenty
thousand footmen and twelve thousand
horses with their riders.
6 And you shall go out against all the
west country, because they disobeyed the
commandment of my mouth.
7 You shall declare to them that they
should prepare earth and water, because
I will go out in my wrath against them,
and will cover the whole face of the earth
with the feet of my army, who will plunder
them.
8 Their slain will fill their valleys and
brooks, and the river will be filled with
their dead until it overflows.
9 I will lead them as captives to the
utmost parts of all the earth.
10 But you shall go forth, and take all
their coasts for me first. If they will yield
themselves to you,† then you must reserve
them for me until the day of their reproof.
11 As for those who resist, your eye shall
not spare; but you shall give them up to be
slain and to be plundered in all your land.
12 For as I live, and by the power of my
kingdom, I have spoken, and I will do this
with my hand.
13 Moreover, you shall not transgress
anything of the commandments of your
lord, but youshall surely accomplishthem,
as I have commanded you. You shall not
defer to do them.
14 So Holofernes went out from the presence
of his lord, and called all the governors,
the captains, and officers of the army
of Asshur.
15 He counted chosen men for the battle,
as his lord had commanded him, to one
hundred twenty thousand, with twelve
thousand archers on horseback.
16 He arranged them as a great multitude
is ordered for the war.
17 He took camels, donkeys, and mules
for their baggage, an exceedingly great
multitude, and sheep, oxen, and goats
without number for their provision,
18 and a large supply of rations for every
man, and a huge amount of gold and silver
out of the king’s house.
19 He went out, he and all his army, on
their journey, to go before King Nebuchadnezzar,
and to cover all the face of the
earth westward with their chariots,
horsemen, and chosen footmen.
20 A great company of various nations
went out withthemlike locusts andlike the
sand of the earth. For they could not be
counted by reason of their multitude.
21 And they departed out of Nineveh
three days’ journey toward the plain of
Bectileth, and encamped from Bectileth
near the mountain which is atthe left hand
of the Upper Cilicia.
22 And he took all his army, his footmen,
horsemen, and chariots, and went away
from there into the hill country,
23 and destroyed Put and Lud, and plundered
all the children of Rasses and the
children of Ishmael, which were along the
wilderness to the south of the land of the
Chellians.
24 And he went overEuphrates, and went
through Mesopotamia, and broke down all
the high cities that were upon the river
Arbonai, until you come to the sea.
25 And he took possession of the borders
of Cilicia, and killed all who resisted him,
and came to the borders of Japheth, which
were toward the south, opposite Arabia.
26 He surrounded all the children of Midian,
and set their tents on fire, and plundered
their sheepfolds.
27 He went downinto the plainof
Damascus in the days of wheat
harvest, and set all their fields
on fire, and utterly destroyed
their flocks and herds, plundered their
cities, laid their plains waste, and struck
all their young men with the edge of the sword.
28 And the fear and the dread of him
fell upon those who lived on the sea coast,
upon those who were in Sidon and Tyre,
those who lived in Sur and Ocina, and all
who lived in Jemnaan. Those who lived
in Azotus and Ascalon feared him exceedingly