Judith 2 • Holofernes sent against the west — Greek text and reception

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In the eighteenth year, on the twenty-second day of the first month, word went out in the house of Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians to take vengeance on the whole land, just as he had said.

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He called together all his attendants and all his nobles, laid before them the secret of his plan, and by his own pronouncement settled all the calamity for the land.

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They decided to destroy all flesh that had not obeyed the word of his mouth.

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When he had completed his plan, Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians called Holofernes, the commander-in-chief of his army, who was second after him, and said to him:

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“Thus says the great king, the lord of all the earth: Look, you shall go out from my presence and take with you men confident in their strength: a hundred and twenty thousand infantry, and a multitude of twelve thousand horses with riders.

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You shall go out to confront the whole land toward the west, because they disobeyed the word of my mouth.

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You shall announce to them that they are to prepare earth and water, because I will come out against them in my wrath, cover the entire face of the earth with the feet of my army, and hand them over to it for plunder.

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Their slain shall fill their ravines, and every torrent and river shall overflow, filled with their dead.

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I will lead their captives to the ends of the whole earth.

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But you shall go out and seize all their territory for me in advance. They will surrender themselves to you, and you shall keep them for me until the day of their punishment.

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As for those who disobey, your eye shall not spare them from slaughter and plunder throughout all your land.

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For as I live, and as the power of my kingdom lives, I have spoken and will do these things with my own hand.

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You shall not transgress a single word of your lord, but shall fully carry out what I have commanded you; you shall not delay doing it.”

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Holofernes went out from his lord's presence and called all the powerful men, generals, and officers of the army of Asshur.

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He mustered picked men for battle, just as his lord had ordered him: a hundred and twenty thousand, and twelve thousand mounted archers.

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He arranged them as a multitude is drawn up for war.

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He took camels, donkeys, and mules for their baggage, an exceedingly great multitude, and sheep, cattle, and goats for their provisions, beyond counting;

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also abundant food for every man, and exceedingly much gold and silver from the king's house.

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He and all his army set out on a march to go before King Nebuchadnezzar and cover the entire face of the earth toward the west with chariots, cavalry, and their picked infantry.

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A great mixed multitude went out with them, like locusts and like the sand of the earth; because of their multitude they could not be numbered.

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They traveled a three-day journey from Nineveh toward the plain of Bectileth and camped beyond Bectileth, near the mountain to the left of Upper Cilicia.

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He took his whole army, the infantry, cavalry, and chariots, and went from there into the hill country.

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He cut through Phoud and Loud and plundered all the sons of Rassis and the sons of Ishmael who faced the wilderness south of Cheleon.

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He crossed the Euphrates, traversed Mesopotamia, and demolished all the fortified cities along the torrent Abrona, until he came to the sea.

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He seized the territories of Cilicia, cut down all who resisted him, and came as far as the territories of Japheth, those toward the south, facing Arabia.

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He surrounded all the sons of Midian, burned their dwellings, and plundered their enclosures.

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He went down to the plain of Damascus in the days of the wheat harvest, burned all their fields, consigned their flocks and herds to destruction, plundered their cities, scattered their plains as chaff, and struck down all their young men with the edge of the sword.

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Fear and dread of him fell upon the inhabitants of the coast, those in Sidon and Tyre, the inhabitants of Sour and Okina, and all the inhabitants of Jemnaan; and those inhabiting Azotus and Ascalon were exceedingly afraid of him.