The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Judith 06
1 And when the disturbance of the men
that were around the council had ceased,
Holofernes the chief captain of the army
of Asshur said to Achior and to all the
children of Moab† before all the people of
the foreigners:
2 “And who are you, Achior, and the
mercenaries of Ephraim,‡ that you have
prophesied among us as today, and have
said that we should not make war with
the race of Israel, because their God will
defend them? And who is God but Nebuchadnezzar?
3 He will send forth his might, and will
destroy them from the face of the earth,
and their God will not deliver them; but
we his servants will strike them as one
man. They willnot sustainthe might of our
cavalry.
4 For with them we will burn them up.
Their mountains will be drunken with
their blood. Their plains will be filled with
their dead bodies. Their footsteps will not
standbeforeus, butthey will surelyperish,
says King Nebuchadnezzar, lord of all the
earth; for he said, ‘The words that I have
spoken§ will not be in vain.’
5 But you, Achior, hireling of Ammon,
who have spoken these words in the day
of your iniquity, will see my face no more
from this day, until I am avenged of the
race of those that came out of Egypt.
6 And then the sword of my army, and
the multitude of those who serve me, will
pass through your sides, and you will fall
among their slain when I return.
7 Then my servants will bring you back
into the hill country, and will set you in one
of the cities by the passes.
8 You will not perish until you are destroyed with them.
9 And if you hope in your heart that they
will not be taken, don’t let your countenance
fall. Ihave spokenit, andnone ofmy
words will fall to the ground.”
10 Then Holofernes commanded his servants
who waited in his tent to take Achior,
and bring him back to Bethulia, and deliver
him into the hands of the children of
Israel.
11 So his servants took him, and brought
him out of the camp into the plain, and
they moved from the midst of the plains
into the hill country, and came to the
springs that were under Bethulia.
12 When the men of the city saw them
on the top of the hill, they took up their
weapons, and went out of the city against
them to the top of the hill. Every man that
used a sling kept them from coming up,
and threw stones at them.
13 They took cover under the hill, bound
Achior, cast him down, left him at the foot
of the hill, and went away to their lord.
14 But the children of Israel descended
from their city, and came to him, untied him,
led him away into Bethulia, and presented him
to the rulers of their city,
15 which were in those days Ozias the
son of Micah, of the tribe of Simeon, and
Chabris the son of Gothoniel, and Charmis
the son of Melchiel.
16 Then they called together allthe elders
of the city; and all their young men ran
together, with their women, to the assembly.
They set Achior in the midst of all their
people. Then Ozias asked him what had
happened.
17 He answered and declared to them the
words of the council of Holofernes, and all
the words that he had spoken in the midst
of the princes of the children of Asshur,
and all the great words that Holofernes
had spoken against the house of Israel.
18 Then the people fell down and worshiped
God, and cried, saying,
19 “O Lord God of heaven, behold their
arrogance, and pity the low estate of our
race. Look upon the face of those who are
sanctified to you this day.”
20 They comforted Achior, and praised
him exceedingly.
21 Then Ozias took him out of the assembly
into his house, and made a feast for the
elders. They called on the God of Israel for
help all that night.