Judith 3

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 They therefore sent messengers to him to sue for peace in these words:	1 Then the kings as well as the princes of the provinces sent their emissaries from all of the cities: from Syria, particularly Mesopotamia, and Syria Sobal, and Libya as well as Cilicia. These, upon coming to Holofernes, said:
2 "We, the servants of Nebuchadnezzar the great king, lie prostrate before you; do with us as you will.	2 “Let your indignation concerning us cease. For it is better for us to live in service to Nebuchadnezzar, the great king, and to become subject to you, rather than to die, even though we may have to suffer our condemnation into the annihilation of slavery.
3 Our dwellings and all our wheat fields, our flocks and herds, and all our encampments are at your disposal; make use of them as you please.	3 All our cities and all our possessions, all mountains, and hills, and fields, and herds of cattle, and flocks of sheep, and goats, and horses, and camels, and all our resources and families are in your sight.
4 Our cities and their inhabitants are also at your service; come and deal with them as you see fit."	4 Let all that we have be subject to your law.
5 After the spokesmen had reached Holofernes and given him this message,	5 We, and our sons, are your servants.
6 he went down with his army to the seacoast, and stationed garrisons in the fortified cities; from them he impressed picked troops as auxiliaries.	6 Come to us as a peaceful lord, and use our service, just as it pleases you.”
7 The people of these cities and all the inhabitants of the countryside received him with garlands and dancing to the sound of timbrels.	7 Then he descended from the mountains with horsemen, in great power, and he took charge of every city and of every inhabitant of the land.
8 Nevertheless, he devastated their whole territory and cut down their sacred groves, for he had been commissioned to destroy all the gods of the earth, so that every nation might worship Nebuchadnezzar alone, and every people and tribe invoke him as a god.	8 And, from all the cities, he took for himself auxiliaries: strong men and well-chosen for war.
9 At length Holofernes reached Esdraelon in the neighborhood of Dothan, the approach to the main ridge of the Judean mountains;	9 And such a dread lay upon those provinces, that the leading and honored inhabitants of all the cities, together with the people, went out to meet him at his arrival.
10 he set up his camp between Geba and Scythopolis, and stayed there a whole month to refurbish all the equipment of his army.	10 They received him with garlands and lamps; they were led by choirs with timbrels and flutes.
	11 Yet, not even by doing these things were they able to mitigate the ferocity of his chest.
	12 For he both destroyed their cities and cut down their sacred groves.
	13 For king Nebuchadnezzar had instructed him to exterminate all the gods of the earth, evidently so that he alone might be called ‘god’ by those nations which were able to be subjugated by the power of Holofernes.
	14 But when he had passed through Syria Sobal, and all of Apamea, and all Mesopotamia, he came to the Idumeans in the land of Gibeah.
	15 And he took their cities, and he sat there for thirty days, during which days he instructed all the troops of his army to regroup.