Judith 2:14-28

Common English Bible

Holofernes destroys the rebels

¹⁴ Holofernes left the presence of his master and called together all the leaders, captains, and commanders of the Assyrian army. ¹⁵ He assembled the chosen men in divisions as his master commanded him, one hundred twenty thousand infantry and twelve thousand cavalry armed with bows. ¹⁶ He arranged them as a great army prepared for war. ¹⁷ He also took a great many camels, donkeys, and mules to carry their baggage, and countless sheep, oxen, and goats as provisions. ¹⁸ He took enough food for everyone, as well as a large quantity of gold and silver from the king’s palace.

¹⁹ Then he and his whole army set out ahead of King Nebuchadnezzar to cover the whole face of the earth to the west with their chariots, cavalry, and chosen infantry. ²⁰ Joining them was an assorted group of people, so many that they couldn’t be numbered. They were like swarms of locusts, like the dust of the earth.

²¹ After marching for three days from Nineveh to the plain of Bectileth, they camped across from Bectileth near the mountain to the north of Upper Cilicia. ²² From there Holofernes took his whole army—the infantry, the cavalry, and his chariots—and he went up into the highlands. ²³ He cut through Put and Lud, and looted all the people of Rassis and the Ishmaelites along the edge of the desert to the south of the Chelleans. ²⁴ He traveled along the Euphrates, passing through Mesopotamia, and destroyed every strategic city along the brook of Abron until he reached the sea. ²⁵ He seized the territory of Cilicia, killing everyone who resisted him. Then he went to the region of Japheth, to the south along the edge of Arabia. ²⁶ He surrounded all of the Midianites, burned their tents, and plundered their sheep pens. ²⁷ Then he went down onto the plain of Damascus during the wheat harvest and burned all their fields, destroyed their flocks and herds, and sacked their cities. He emptied their fields and killed all their young men with the sword.

People on the seacoast surrender

²⁸ Fear and dread of Holofernes fell upon the people living along the seacoast, in Sidon and Tyre, those living in Sur and Ocina, and those living in Jamnia. The people who lived in Azotus and Ascalon were especially afraid of him.