Judith, chapters 1 - 7
1 IN THE TWELFTH YEAR of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar,
who reigned over the Assyrians from his capital, Nineveh, Arphaxad
was ruling the Medes from Ecbatana. He it was who encircled Ecbatana
with a wall built of hewn stones which were four and a half feet thick and
nine feet long. He made the wall a hundred and five feet high and seventy-
five feet thick, and at the city gates he set up towers a hundred and fifty feet
high with foundations ninety feet thick; and he made the gates a hundred
and five feet high and sixty feet wide to allow his army to march out in full
force with his infantry in formation. It was in those days, then, that King
Nebuchadnezzar waged war against King Arphaxad in the great plain on
the border of Ragau. Nebuchadnezzar was opposed by all the inhabitants
of the hill-country, by all those who lived along the Euphrates, the Tigris,
and the Hydaspes; and, on the plain by Arioch king of Elam; and many
tribes of the Chelodites joined forces with them.
Then Nebuchadnezzar king of Assyria sent a summons to all the inhabi-
tants of Persia, and to all who lived in the west: the inhabitants of Cilicia
and Damascus, Lebanon and Antilebanon, all who lived near the coast,
the peoples of Carmel and Gliead, Upper Gilead, and the great plain
of Esdraelon, all who were in Samaria and its towns, and on the west of
Jordan as far as Jerusalem, Betane, Chelus, Cadesh, and the frontier
of Egypt, those who lived in Tahpanhes, Rameses, and the whole land of
Goshen as far as Tanis and Memphis, and all the inhabitants of Egypt
as far as the borders of Ethiopia. But the entire region disregarded the
summons of Nebuchadnezzar king of Assyria and did not join him in the
war. They were not afraid of him, for he seemed to them to stand alone
and unsupported; and they treated his envoys with contempt and sent
them back empty-handed.
This roused Nebuchadnezzar to fury against the whole region, and he
swore by his throne and his kingdom that he would have his revenge on all
the territories of Cilicia, Damascus, and Syria, and put their inhabitants
to the sword, along with the Moabites, the Ammonites, and the people in
all Judaea and in Egypt as far as the shores of the two seas.
In the seventeenth year of his reign he marshalled his forces against King
Arphaxad and defeated him in battle, routing his entire army, cavalry,
chariots, and all. He occupied his towns; and when he reached Ecbatana
he captured its towers, looted its bazaars, and turned it splendour to
abject ruin. He caught Arphaxad in the mountains of Ragau, speared him
through, and so made an end of him. Then he returned with his spoils to
Nineveh, he and his combined forces, an immense host of warriors. There
he rested and feasted with his army for four months.
2 In the eighteenth year, on the twenty-second day of the first month, a
proposal was made in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar king of Assyria to
carry out his threat of vengeance on the whole region. Assembling all his
officers and nobles, the king laid before them his personal decision about
the region and declared his intention of putting an end to its disaffection.
They resolved that everyone who had not obeyed his summons should be
put to death.
When his plans were completed, Nebuchadnezzar king of Assyria
summoned Holophernes his commander-in-chief, who was second only
to himself, and said to him, 'This is the decree of the Great King. lord of
all the earth: Directly you leave my presence, you are to take under your
command an army of seasoned troops, a hundred and twenty thousand
infantry with a force of twelve thousand cavalry, and march out against all
the peoples of the west who have dared to disobey my command. Tell
them to have ready their offering of earth and water, for I am coming to
vent my wrath on them. Their whole land will be smothered by my army,
and I will give them up to be plundered by my troops. Their dead will fill
the valleys, and every stream and river will be choked with corpses; and I
will send them into captivity to the ends of the whole earth. Now go ad
occupy all their territory for me. If they surrender to you, hold them for me
until the time comes to punish them. But show no mercy to those who
resist; let them be slaughtered and plundered throughout the whole region.
By my life and my royal power I swear: I have spoken and I will be as good
as my word. As for you, do not disobey a single one of my orders, but see
that you carry them out exactly as I your sovereign have commanded you.
Do this without delay.'
After leaving his sovereign's presence, Holophernes assembled all the
marshals generals, and officers of the Assyrian army, and mustered picked
men, as the king had commanded, a hundred and twenty thousand infantry
and twelve thousand mounted archers, drawing them up in battle order.
He took an immense number of camels, asses, and mules for their baggage,
innumerable sheep, oxen, and goats for provisions, and ample rations for
every man, as well as a great quantity of gold and silver from the royal
palace. Then he set out with all his army to go ahead of King Nebuchad-
nezzar and to overrun the entire region to the west with chariots, cavalry,
and picked infantry. Along with them went a motley host like a swarm of
locust, countless as the dust of the earth.
From Nineveh they marched for three days towards the plain of Becti-
leth, and encamped beside Bectileth near the mountain north of Upper
Cilicia. From there, Holophernes advanced into the hill-country with his
whole army, infantry, cavalry, and chariots. He devastated Put and Lud,
and plundered all the people of Rassis, and the Ishmaelites on the edge of
the desert south of the land of the Cheleans. Then he followed the
Euphrates and traversed Mesopotamia, destroying all the fortified towns
along the river Abron as far as the sea. He occupied the territory of Cilicia
and cut down all who resisted him. Then he came south to the borders of
Japheth fronting Arabia. He surrounded the Midianites, burnt their
encampments, and plundered their sheepfolds. At the time of wheat
harvest he went down to the plain of Damascus, burnt their crops,
exterminated their flocks and herds, sacked their towns, laid waste their
fields, and put all their young men to the sword. Fear and dread of him fell
on all the inhabitants of the coast at Tyre and Sidon, of Sur and Okina,
and of Jemnaan; the people of Azotus and Ascalon were terrified of him.
3 They sent envoys to sue for peace, who said: 'We are servants of the
Great King Nebuchadnezzar, we lie prostrate before you ; do with us as
you please. Our buildings, our territory, our wheat fields, our flocks and
herds and every sheepfold in our encampments, all are yours to do with as
you wish. Our towns and their inhabitants are subject to you; come and
deal with them as you think fit.'
When the envoys came to Holophernes with this message, he went down
to the coast with his army and garrisoned all the fortified towns, taking
from them picked men as auxiliaries. Both there and in all the surrounding
country he was welcomed with garlands, dancing, and tambourines. he
demolished all their sanctuaries and cut down their sacred groves, for he
had been commissioned to destroy all the gods of the land, so that
Nebuchadnezzar alone should be worshipped by every nation and invoked
as a god by men of every tribe and tongue.
Holophernes then advanced towards Esdraelon, near Dothan, which
faces the great ridge of Judaea, and encamped between Geba and Scytho-
polis, where he remained for a whole month to collect supplies for his army.
4 WHEN THE ISRAELITES who lived in Judaea heard of all that had been
done to the nations by Holophernes, the commander-in-chief of Nebuchad-
nezzar king of Assyria, and how he had plundered and totally destroyed
all their temples, they were terrified at his approach. They were in great
alarm for Jerusalem and for the temple of the Lord their God. For they
had just returned from captivity, and it was only recently that the people
had been re-united in Judaea, and the sacred vessels, the temple, and the
whole of Samaria, Cona, Beth-horon, Belmain and Jericho, Choba and
Aesora and the valley of Salem, and occupied the tops of all the high hills.
They fortified the villages on them and laid up stores of food in preparation
for war; for their fields had just been harvested. Joakim, who was high
priest in Jerusalem at the time, wrote to the people of Bethulia and Betho-
mesthaim, which is opposite Esdraelon facing the plain near Dothan. He
ordered them to occupy the passes in the hill-country, because they con-
trolled access to Judaea, and it was easy to hold up an advancing army, for
the approach was only wide enough for two men. The Israelites obeyed
the orders of the high priest Joakim and the senate of all Israel in Jeru-
salem. Fervently they sent up a cry to God, every man of Israel, and
fervently they humbled themselves before him. They put on sackcloth——
they themselves, their wives, their children, their livestock, and every
resident foreigner, hired labourer, and slave——and all the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, men, women, and children, prostrated themselves in front of
the sanctuary, and, with ashes on their heads, spread out their sackcloth
before the Lord. They draped the altar in sackcloth, and with one voice
they earnestly implored the God of Israel not to allow their children to be
captured, their wives carried off, their ancestral cities destroyed, and the
temple profaned and dishonoured, to the delight of the heathen. The Lord
heard their prayers and pitied their distress.
For many days the whole population of Judaea and Jerusalem fasted
before the sanctuary of the Lord Almighty. Joakim the high priest and the
priests who stood in the presence of the Lord, and all who served in the
temple, wore sackcloth when they offered the regular burnt -offering and
the votive and freewill offerings of the people; and with ashes on their
turbans they cried aloud to the Lord to look favourably on the whole
house of Israel.
5 When it was reported to Holophernes, the Assyrian commander-in-
chief, that the Israelites had prepared for war, and that they had closed
the passes in the hill-country, fortified all the heights and dug pitfalls in
the plains, he was furious. He summoned all the rulers of Moab, the
Ammonite commanders, and all the governors of the coastal region, and
said to them, 'Tell me, you Canaanites, what nation is this that lives in the
hill-country? What towns do they inhabit? How big is their army? What
gives them their power and strength? Who is the king that commands
their forces? Why are they the only people of the west who have refused to
come and meet me?'
Then Achior, the leader of the Ammonites, said to him, 'My lord,
if you will allow your servant to speak, I will tell you the truth about this
nation that lives in the hill-country near here; and no lie shall pass my lips.
They are descended from the Chaldaeans; and at one time they settled
in Mesopotamia, because they refused to worship the gods their fathers
had worshipped in Chaldaea. They abandoned the ways of their ancestors
and worshipped the God of Heaven, the god whom they now acknowledged.
When the Chaldaeans drove them out from the presence of their gods, they
fled to Mesopotamia, where they lived for a long time. Then their god told
them to leave their new home and go on to Canaan. They settled there and
acquired great wealth in gold, silver, and livestock.
'Because of a famine which spread over the whole of Canaan, they went
down to Egypt and lived there as long as they were supplied with food.
While in Egypt, they multiplied so greatly that their numbers could not be
reckoned, and the king of Egypt turned against them. He exploited them
by setting them to hard labour making bricks , and he reduced them to
abject slavery. They cried out to their god, and he inflicted incurable
plagues on the whole of Egypt. So the Egyptians turned them out; and
their god dried up the Red Sea for them and led them on to Sinai and
Cadesh-barnea. Then they drove out all the inhabitants of the wilderness
and settled in the land of the Amorites, and they destroyed all the people
of Heshbon by force of arms. After that they crossed the Jordan and occu-
pied all the hill-country, driving out the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the
Jebusites, the Shechemite, and all hte Girgashites. There they settled for
a long time.
'As long as they did not sin against their god, they prospered; for theirs
is a god who hates wickedness. But when they left the path he had laid
down for them, they suffered heavy losses in many wars and were carried
captive to a foreign country; the temple of their god was razed to the
ground, and their towns were occupied by their enemies. But now that
they have returned to their god, they have come back from their places
where they had dispersed, and have taken possession of Jerusalem,
where their sanctuary is, and have settled in the hill-country, because it
was uninhabited.
'Now, my lord and master, if these people are guilty of an error and are
sinning against their god, and if we find out that they have committed this
offence, then we may go and make war on them. But if these people have
committed no wickedness, leave them alone, my lord, for fear the god they
serve should protect them and we become the laughing-stock of the
world.' When Achior stopped speaking there were protests from all those
who stood round the tent. Holophernes' officers ad all the people from
the coastal region and from Moab demanded that Achior should be cut to
pieces. 'We are not going to be afraid of the Israelites,' they said, 'a people
quite incapable of putting an effective army in the field. Let us go ahead,
Lord Holophernes; your great army will swallow them whole.'
6 When the hubbub among the men around the council had subsided,
Holophernes, the Assyrian commander-in-chief, said to Achior and all the
Ammonites, in the presence of the assembled foreigners: 'And who are
you, Achior, you and your Ammonite mercenaries, to play the prophet
among us as you have done today, telling us not to make war against the
people of Israel because their god will protect them? What god is there but
Nebuchadnezzar? He will exert his power and wipe them off the face of
the earth; and their god will not rescue them. We who serve Nebuchad-
nezzar will strike them all down as if they were only one man. They will not
be able to stand up to the weight of our cavalry; we shall overwhelm them.
Their mountains will be drenched with blood, and heir plains filled with
their dead. They cannot stand their ground against us; they will be com-
pletely wiped out. This is the decree of King Nebuchadnezzar, lord of he
whole earth. He has spoken; and what he has said will be made good. As
for you, Achior, you Ammonite mercenary, the words you have spoken
today are high treason, so from today you shall not see my face again until I
have taken vengeance on this brood of runaways from Egypt. But when I
come back, the warriors of my bodyguard will run you through and add
you to their victims. My men are going to take you away now to the hill-
country and leave you in one of the towns in the passes. You will not die
until you share their fate. If you are so confident that they will not fall into
our hands, you need not look downcast. I have spoken; and nothing that
I have said will fail to come true.'
Then Holophernes ordered his men, who were standing by his tent,
to seize Achior, take him off to Bethulia, and hand him over to the Israelites.
So they seized him and took him outside the camp to the plain, and from
there into the hill-country, until they arrived at the springs below Betulia.
When the men of the town saw them, they picked up their weapons and
came out of the town to the top of the hill; then all the slingers pelted the
enemy with stones to prevent them from coming up. But they slipped
through under cover of the hill, tied Achior up and left him lying at the foot
of it, and went back to their master. When the Israelites came down from
the town and found him there, they untied him and took him into Bethulia,
where they brought him before the town magistrates the in office, Ozias
son of Mica, of the tribe of Simeon, and Chabris son of Gothoniel, and
Charmis son of Melchiel. The magistrates summoned all the elders of the
town; and all the young men and women came running to the assembly.
When Achior had been brought before the people, Ozias asked him what
had happened. He answered by telling them all that had taken place in
Holophernes' council, what he himself had said in the presence of the
Assyrian commanders, and how Holophernes had boasted of what he
would do to Israel. Then the people prostrated themselves in worship and
cried out to God: 'O Lord, God of heaven, mark their arrogance; pity our
people in their humiliation; show favour this day to those who are thy
own.' Then they reassured Achior and commended him warmly. Ozias
took him from the assembly to his own house, and gave a feast for the elders;
and all that night they invoked the help of the God of Israel.
7 THE NEXT DAY Holophernes ordered his whole army and all his allies
to strike camp and march on Bethulia, seize the passes into the hill-country,
and make war on the Israelites. So the whole force set out that day, an
army of a hundred and seventy thousand infantry and twelve thousand
cavalry, not counting the baggage train of he infantry, an immense host.
They camped in the valley near Bethulia, beside the Spring; and their
camp extended in breadth towards Dothan as far as Belbaim, and in length
from Bethulia to Cyamon which faces Esdraelon. When the Israelites saw
their numbers they said to each other in great alarm, 'These men will strip
the whole country bare; the high mountains, the valleys, and the hills will
never be able to bear the burden of them.' Then each man stood to arms;
and they lit the beacons on the towers and remained on guard all that
night.
On the following day Holophernes led out all his cavalry in full view of
the Israelites in Bethulia, and reconnoitred the approaches to their town.
He inspected the springs and seized them; and when they had stationed
detachments of soldiers there, he returned to his army. Then all the rulers
of the Edomites and all the leaders of Moab and the commanders from the
coastal region came to him and said, 'Listen to our advice, Lord Holo-
phernes, and save your army from a crushing defeat. These Isrealites do
not trust in their spears but in the height of the mountains where they
live; for it is no easy task to get up to the tops of these mountains of theirs.
Now, Lord Holophernes, avoid fighting a pitched battle with them, and
you will not lose a single man. Remain in your camp and kep your men in
their quarters; but let your servants take possession of the spring at the
foot of the hill, for that is where all the townspeople of Bethulia get their
water. When they are dying of thirst they will surrender to the town. Mean-
while, we and all our people will go up to the tops of the neighbouring hills
and camp there to see that not a man gets away from the town. They and
their wives and children will waste away with famine; and before the sword
reaches them, their streets will be strewn with their corpses. So you will
make them pay heavily for rebelling against you, instead of receiving you
peaceably.' Holophernes and all his staff approved this plan; and he gave
orders that it should be carried out. The Moabite force moved forward in
company with five thousand Assyrians and encamped in the valley, where
they seized the springs which were the Israelites' water supply. Then the
Edomites and Ammonites went up and encamped in the hill-country
opposite Dothan, and sent some of their number south-east in the
direction of Egrebel, which is near Chus on the Mochmur ravine. The rest
of the Assyrian army encamped in the plain. They filled the entire country-
side their tents and baggage train forming an immense encampment, for
they were a vast host.
Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord their God. Their courage
failed, because all their enemies had surrounded them and there was no
way of escape. The whole Assyrian army, infantry cavalry, and chariots,
kept them blockaded for thirty-four days. The citizens of Bethulia came
to the end of their household supplies of water. The cisterns too were
running dry; drinking-water was so strictly rationed that there was never
a day when their needs were satisfied. The children were lifeless, the
women and young men faint with thirst. They collapsed in the streets and
gateways from sheer exhaustion.
Then all the people, young men, women, and children, gathered round
Ozias and the magistrates of the town, shouting loudly . In the presence of
the elders they said: 'May God judge between us, for you have done us a
great wrong in not coming to terms with the Assyrians. Now we have no
one to help us. God has sold us into their power; they will find us dead of
thirst, and the ground strewn with our corpses. Surrender to them; let
Holophernes' people and his army sack the town. It is better for us to be
taken prisoner; for even as slaves we shall still be alive, and shall not have
to watch our babies dying before our eyes, and our wives and children at
their last gasp. We call heaven and earth to witness, we call our God, the
Lord of our fathers, to witness against you——the God who is punishing us
for our sins and for the sins of our fathers. We pray that he may not let our
foreboding come true this day.' Then the whole assembly broke into loud
lamentations and cried to the Lord God. Ozias said to them, 'Courage, my
friends! Let us hold out for five more days; by that time the Lord our God
may show us his mercy again. Surely he will not finally desert us. But if by
the end of that time no help has reached us, then I will do what you ask.'
Then he dismissed the men to their various posts; and they went off to the
walls and towers of the town. The women and children he sent indoors.
Throughout the town there was deep dejection.
The New English Bible (with Apocrypha)
Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, 1970
Posted Mar 30, 2019, 11:43 PM UTC
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