Judith 2

DOUAI-RHEIMS	Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
1 In the thirteenth year of the reign of Nabuchodonosor, the two and twentieth day of the first month, the word was given out in the house of Nabuchodonosor king of the Assyrians, that he would revenge himself.	1 In the eighteenth year, on the twenty-second day of the first month, there was talk in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians about carrying out his revenge on the whole region, just as he said.
2 And he called all the ancients, and all the governors, and his officers of war, and communicated to them the secret of his counsel:	2 He called together all his officers and all his nobles and set forth to them his secret plan and recounted fully, with his own lips, all the wickedness of the region;
3 And he said that his thoughts were to bring all the earth under his empire.	3 and it was decided that every one who had not obeyed his command should be destroyed.
4 And when this saying pleased them all, Nabuchodonosor, the king, called Holofernes the general of his armies,	4 When he had finished setting forth his plan, Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians called Holofernes, the chief general of his army, second only to himself, and said to him,
5 And said to him: Go out against all the kingdoms of the west, and against them especially that despised my commandment.	5 "Thus says the Great King, the lord of the whole earth: When you leave my presence, take with you men confident in their strength, to the number of one hundred and twenty thousand foot soldiers and twelve thousand cavalry.
6 Thy eye shall not spare any kingdom, and all the strong cities thou shalt bring under my yoke.	6 Go and attack the whole west country, because they disobeyed my orders.
7 Then Holofernes called the captains and officers of the power of the Assyrians: and he mustered men for the expedition, as the king commanded him, a hundred and twenty thousand fighting men on foot, and twelve thousand archers, horsemen.	7 Tell them to prepare earth and water, for I am coming against them in my anger, and will cover the whole face of the earth with the feet of my armies, and will hand them over to be plundered by my troops,
8 And he made all his warlike preparations to go before with a multitude of innumerable camels, with all provisions sufficient for the armies in abundance, and herds of oxen, and flocks of sheep, without number.	8 till their wounded shall fill their valleys, and every brook and river shall be filled with their dead, and overflow;
9 He appointed corn to be prepared out of all Syria in his passage.	9 and I will lead them away captive to the ends of the whole earth.
10 But gold and silver he took out of the king's house in great abundance.	10 You shall go and seize all their territory for me in advance. They will yield themselves to you, and you shall hold them for me till the day of their punishment.
11 And he went forth he and all the army, with the chariots, and horsemen, and archers, who covered the face of the earth, like locusts.	11 But if they refuse, your eye shall not spare and you shall hand them over to slaughter and plunder throughout your whole region.
12 And when he had passed through the borders of the Assyrians, he came to the great mountains of Ange, which are on the left of Cilicia: and he went up to all their castles, and took all the strong places.	12 For as I live, and by the power of my kingdom, what I have spoken my hand will execute.
13 And he took by assault the renowned city of Melothus, and pillaged all the children of Tharsis, and the children of Ismahel, who were over against the face of the desert, and on the south of the land of Cellon.	13 And you--take care not to transgress any of your sovereign's commands, but be sure to carry them out just as I have ordered you; and do not delay about it."
14 And he passed over the Euphrates and came into Mesopotamia: and he forced all the stately cities that were there, from the torrent of Mambre, till one comes to the sea:	14 So Holofernes left the presence of his master, and called together all the commanders, generals, and officers of the Assyrian army,
15 And he took the borders thereof from Cilicia to the coasts of Japheth, which are towards the south.	15 and mustered the picked troops by divisions as his lord had ordered him to do, one hundred and twenty thousand of them, together with twelve thousand archers on horseback,
16 And he carried away all the children of Madian, and stripped them of all their riches, and all that resisted him he slew with the edge of the sword.	16 and he organized them as a great army is marshaled for a campaign.
17 And after these things he went down into the plains of Damascus in the days of the harvest, and he set all the corn on fire, and he caused all the trees and vineyards to be cut down	17 He collected a vast number of camels and asses and mules for transport, and innumerable sheep and oxen and goats for provision;
18 And the fear of them fell upon alit the inhabitants of the land.	18 also plenty of food for every man, and a huge amount of gold and silver from the royal palace.
	19 So he set out with his whole army, to go ahead of King Nebuchadnezzar and to cover the whole face of the earth to the west with their chariots and horsemen and picked troops of infantry.
	20 Along with them went a mixed crowd like a swarm of locusts, like the dust of the earth--a multitude that could not be counted.
	21 They marched for three days from Nineveh to the plain of Bectileth, and camped opposite Bectileth near the mountain which is to the north of Upper Cilicia.
	22 From there Holofernes took his whole army, his infantry, cavalry, and chariots, and went up into the hill country
	23 and ravaged Put and Lud, and plundered all the people of Rassis and the Ishmaelites who lived along the desert, south of the country of the Chelleans.
	24 Then he followed the Euphrates and passed through Mesopotamia and destroyed all the hilltop cities along the brook Abron, as far as the sea.
	25 He also seized the territory of Cilicia, and killed every one who resisted him, and came to the southern borders of Japheth, fronting toward Arabia.
	26 He surrounded all the Midianites, and burned their tents and plundered their sheepfolds.
	27 Then he went down into the plain of Damascus during the wheat harvest, and burned all their fields and destroyed their flocks and herds and sacked their cities and ravaged their lands and put to death all their young men with the edge of the sword.
	28 So fear and terror of him fell upon all the people who lived along the seacoast, at Sidon and Tyre, and those who lived in Sur and Ocina and all who lived in Jamnia. Those who lived in Azotus and Ascalon feared him exceedingly.