Judith
Judith 2
Chapter II · Vol. III, pp. 1538–1539
4 Holofernes is appointed general, and charged to spare none that will not yield. 15 His army and provision. 23 The places which he won and wasted as he went.
1 AND 1in the eighteenth year, the two and twentieth day of the first month, there was talk in the house of Nabuchodonosor king of the Assyrians, that he should, 2as he said, avenge himself on all the earth.
1 See ch. 1. 1.
2 ch. 1. 12.
2 So he called unto him all his officers, and all his nobles, and communicated with them his secret counsel, and 3concluded the afflicting of the whole earth out of his own mouth.
3 1 Sam. 20. 7. & 25. 17.
4 And when he had ended his counsel, Nabuchodonosor king of the Assyrian, called Holofernes the chief captain of his army, which was 5next unto him, and said unto him,
5 Gr. second man.
5 Thus saith the great king, the lord of the whole earth, Behold, thou shalt go forth from my presence, and take with thee men that trust in their own strength, of footmen a hundred and twenty thousand; and the number of horses with their riders twelve thousand.
6 And thou shalt go against all the west country, because they disobeyed my commandment.
7 And thou shalt declare unto them, that they prepare for me 6earth and water: for I will go forth in my wrath against them, and will cover the whole face of the earth with the feet of mine army, and I will give them for a spoil unto them:
6 After the manner of the kings of Persia, to whom earth and water were wont to be given, to acknowledge that they were lords of land and sea. Herodotus.
8 So that their slain shall fill their valleys and brooks, and the river shall be filled with their dead, till it overflow:
10 Thou therefore shalt go forth, and take beforehand for me all their coasts: and if they will yield themselves unto thee, thou shalt reserve them for me till the day of their punishment.
11 But concerning them that rebel, let not thine eye spare them; but put them to the slaughter, and spoil them wheresoever thou goest.
12 For 8as I live, and 9by the power of my kingdom, whatsoever I have spoken, that will I do by my hand.
8 Gen. 42. 15.
9 ch. 1. 12.
13 And take thou heed that thou transgress none of the commandments of thy lord, but accomplish them fully, as I have commanded thee, and defer not to do them.
14 Then Holofernes went forth from the presence of his lord, and called *all the governors and captains, and the officers of the army of Assur;
* ver. 2.
15 And he mustered the chosen men for the battle, as his lord had commanded him, †unto a hundred and twenty thousand, and twelve thousand archers on horseback;
† ver. 5.
16 And he ranged them, as a great army is ordered for the war.
17 ‡And he took camels and asses for their carriages, a very great number; and sheep, and oxen, and goats without number, for their provision:
‡ Judg. 5. 5.
18 And plenty of victual for every man of the army, and very much gold and silver out of the king's house.
19 Then he went forth and all his power to go before king Nabuchodonosor in the voyage, and ||to cover all the face of the earth westward with the chariots, and horsemen, and their chosen footmen.
|| ver. 7.
20 A great multitude also of sundry countries came with them like locusts, and like the sand of the earth: for the multitude was 1without number.
1 Judg. 6. 5.
21 And they went forth of Nineve three days' journey towards the plain of Bectileth, and pitched from Bectileth near the mountain which is at the left hand of the upper Cilicia.
22 Then he took all his army, his footmen, and horsemen, and chariots, and went from thence into the hill-country;
23 And destroyed 2Phud and 3Lud, and spoiled all the children of Rasses, and the children of 4Ismael, which were toward the wilderness at the south of the land of the Chellians.
24 Then he went over Euphrates and went through 5Mesopotamia, and destroyed all the high cities that were upon the river Arbonai, till ye come to the sea.
5 Acts 7. 2.
25 And he took the borders of Cilicia, and killed all that resisted him, and came to the borders of Japheth, which were towards the south, over against Arabia.
26 He compassed also all the children of 6Madian, and burned up their tabernacles, and spoiled their sheep-cotes.
6 Ex. 2. 15.
27 Then he went down into the plain of Damascus in the time of 7wheat harvest, and burned up all their fields, and destroyed their flocks and herds, also he spoiled their cities, and utterly wasted their countries, and smote all their young men with the edge of the sword.
7 Ruth 2. 23.
28 Therefore the fear and dread of him fell upon all the inhabitants of the sea-coasts, which were in 8Sidon and Tyrus, and them that dwelt in Sur and Ocina, and all that dwelt in Jemnaan; and they that dwelt in 9Azotus and Ascalon, feared him greatly.
9 Acts 8. 40.