Judith 2

The Order Given to Holofernes

1In the eighteenth year, on the twenty-second day of the first month, word went out in the house of Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians: he would take vengeance on the whole earth, exactly as he had said. 2He called together all his attendants and all his grandees, laid before them the secret of his design, and with his own mouth sealed the whole ruin of the earth. 3And they resolved to destroy all flesh that had not obeyed the word of his mouth. 4When he had settled his design, Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians summoned Holofernes, commander in chief of his army and second only to himself, and said to him: 5“Thus speaks the great king, master of the whole earth. Look: you are to leave my presence and take with you men who trust their own strength — a hundred and twenty thousand on foot, and a mass of cavalry, twelve thousand riders. 6You will march out to confront every land toward the sunset, because they defied the word of my mouth. 7Announce to them that they are to make earth and water ready, for I am marching out against them in my fury. I will blanket the entire face of the ground under the tread of my army, and I will hand them over to it as plunder. 8Their wounded will choke their ravines, and every stream and river will brim over, clogged with their dead. 9I will drive them into captivity to the farthest ends of the earth. 10You, then — go and take for me every last stretch of their territory beforehand. They will give themselves up to you, and you will hold them in reserve for me until the day of their reckoning. 11But for those who defy you, let your eye show no pity: hand them over to slaughter and looting throughout all the land under your hand. 12By my own life, and by the might of my royal power — I have spoken, and my hand will carry it out. 13And you — do not step past one word of your lord. Do it, do it all, exactly as I have laid it on you, and do not put it off.” 14So Holofernes left his lord’s presence and called in every ruler, every general, and every overseer in the forces of Asshur. 15He counted out picked men for the battle line, as his lord had ordered him: a hundred and twenty thousand of them, and twelve thousand mounted archers. 16He arranged them the way a great war host is marshaled. 17He took camels and donkeys and mules for their baggage, an enormous number of them, and sheep and cattle and goats for their provisions, past counting; 18and rations for every man of that multitude, and gold and silver from the king’s house in great quantity.

The March of the Assyrian Host

19Then he and his whole force set out on the march, to go ahead of King Nebuchadnezzar and blanket the entire face of the land toward the sunset with chariots and cavalry and their picked infantry. 20A great rabble went out along with them, like a locust swarm, like the sand of the ground: their multitude was beyond counting. 21Three days’ march out of Nineveh brought them onto the plain of Bectileth, and they pitched camp away from Bectileth, near the mountain that lies to the left of Upper Cilicia. 22Then he took his whole force — the infantry, the cavalry, and his chariots — and went on from there into the hill country. 23He cut Put and Lud to pieces and plundered all the sons of Rassis and the sons of Ishmael, who lived along the edge of the desert south of Cheleon. 24He crossed the Euphrates, passed through Mesopotamia, and razed every high-walled town on the Abron ravine, until he reached the sea. 25He seized the territory of Cilicia, cut down everyone who stood in his way, and pushed as far as the borders of Japheth to the south, opposite Arabia. 26He surrounded all the Midianites, burned their tents, and plundered their sheepfolds. 27Down he came into the Damascus plain at the wheat harvest, set fire to every field they had, wiped out their flocks and herds, stripped their towns bare, threshed their lowlands clean, and cut every young man among them down with the sword. 28Fear of him and trembling fell on the people of the coast — on those in Sidon and Tyre, on the people of Sur and Ocina and all the people of Jemnaan; and those living in Ashdod and Ashkelon were terrified of him.