Judith 3

1 So they sent messengers to him with words of peace, saying, [a] 2 “Look — we are the servants of Nebuchadnezzar the great king, and we lie here before you. Use us however it pleases you. 3 Look — our farmsteads and every place of ours, every plain of wheat, the flocks and the herds and all the pens beside our tents lie before your face. Use them however you please. 4 Look — our cities too, and the people living in them, are your slaves. Come and deal with them as it is good in your eyes.” [b] 5 So the men came to Holofernes and reported it to him in these words.

6 Then he came down to the coastland, he and his army, and set garrisons in the cities on the heights, and took picked men out of them to fight alongside him. 7 And they and all the country around them welcomed him with garlands and dancing and hand-drums.

8 And he razed all their borders and cut down their sacred groves; for it had been given to him to destroy every god of the land, so that all the nations should serve Nebuchadnezzar alone, and every tongue and every tribe of them should call on him as god. [c]

9 And he came opposite Esdrelon, near Dothan, which lies over against the great ridge of Judah; [d] 10 and they pitched camp between Geba and the city of the Scythians, and he was there a whole month, to gather in all the baggage of his army. [e]