Judith 2

1 In the eighteenth year, on the twenty-second day of the first month, there was talk in the house of Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians of taking revenge on the whole earth, just as he had said. [a] 2 He called together all his servants and all his great men, and he laid before them the secret of his plan, and out of his own mouth he settled all the harm that was to come on the earth. 3 And they on their side decided to destroy all flesh that had not followed the word of his mouth.

4 When he had finished laying out his plan, Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians called Holofernes, the commander of his army, who was second after himself, and said to him, 5 “This is what the great king says, the lord of the whole earth: You are to go out from my presence and take with you men who trust in their own strength — 120,000 foot soldiers, and horses with their riders, 12,000 of them. 6 You are to go out to meet all the land to the west, because they disobeyed the word of my mouth. 7 You will tell them to make ready earth and water, for I am going out against them in my anger, and I will cover the whole face of the earth with the feet of my army, and I will hand them over to my men as plunder. 8 Their slain will fill their ravines, and every brook and river will run over, filled with their dead. 9 And I will lead their captives away to the far ends of the whole earth.

10 You, then, go out and seize for me in advance all their territory. They will give themselves up to you, and you will keep them for me until the day of their punishment. [b] 11 But as for those who disobey, your eye is not to spare them: hand them over to slaughter and plunder in all your land. [c] 12 For as I live, and by the power of my kingdom — I have spoken, and I will do it with my own hand. 13 And you for your part will not overstep one single word of your lord. You will carry them out to the full, exactly as I have ordered you, and you will not put off doing them.”

14 So Holofernes went out from the presence of his lord, and he called all the chief men and the commanders and the officers of the army of Assyria, 15 and he counted out chosen men for the battle line, as his lord had ordered him: 120,000, and 12,000 mounted archers, [d] 16 and he drew them up the way a great fighting force is arranged for war.

17 He took camels and donkeys and mules for their baggage, a very great number of them, and sheep and oxen and goats for their supplies, past counting, [e] 18 and food in plenty for every man, and gold and silver out of the king’s house, a very great amount. 19 Then he set out, he and his whole force, to march ahead of King Nebuchadnezzar and to cover the whole face of the earth to the west with their chariots and horsemen and picked foot soldiers. 20 And a great mixed crowd went out with them, like locusts, like the sand of the earth — there was no counting them, they were so many.

21 They marched out from Nineveh a three days’ journey toward the plain of Bectileth, and they camped away from Bectileth, near the mountain that lies to the left of upper Cilicia. [f] 22 Then he took his whole force — his foot soldiers and horsemen and chariots — and went on from there into the hill country. 23 He cut his way through Put and Lud, and he plundered all the sons of Rassis and the sons of Ishmael, who lived along the edge of the wilderness, south of Cheleon. [g]

24 Then he crossed the Euphrates and went through Mesopotamia, and he tore down every high city along the brook Abrona, as far as the sea. [h] 25 He seized the territory of Cilicia and cut down everyone who stood against him, and he came to the borders of Japheth, which lie to the south, facing Arabia. 26 He surrounded all the sons of Midian and burned their tents and plundered their sheepfolds.

27 Then he went down into the plain of Damascus at the time of the wheat harvest, and he burned all their fields and gave their flocks and herds over to ruin; he stripped their cities bare, and swept their plains clean, and struck down all their young men with the edge of the sword. 28 So fear of him and trembling fell on all who lived along the coast — those in Sidon and in Tyre, those who lived in Sur and Ocina, and all who lived in Jemnaan — and those who lived in Ashdod and Ashkelon were in great fear of him. [i]