Judith 1

NEW JERUSALEM	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 It was the twelfth year of Nebuchadnezzar who reigned over the Assyrians in the great city of Nineveh.Arphaxad was then reigning over the Medes in Ecbatana.	1 Now Arphaxad king of the Medes had brought many nations under his dominions, and he built a very strong city, which he called Ecbatana,
2 He surrounded this city with walls of dressed stones three cubits thick and six cubits long, making therampart seventy cubits high and fifty cubits wide.	2 Of stones squared and hewed: he made the walls thereof seventy cubits broad, and thirty cubits high, and the towers thereof he made a hundred cubits high. But on the square of them, each side was extended the space of twenty feet.
3 At the gates he placed towers one hundred cubits high and, at the foundations, sixty cubits wide,	3 And he made the gates thereof according to the height of the towers:
4 the gates themselves being seventy cubits high and forty wide to al ow his forces to march out in a bodyand his infantry to parade freely.	4 And he gloried as a mighty one in the force of his army and in the glory of his chariots.
5 About this time King Nebuchadnezzar gave battle to King Arphaxad in the great plain lying in the territoryof Ragae.	5 Now in the twelfth year of his reign, Nabuchodonosor king of the Assyrians, who reigned in Ninive the great city, fought against Arphaxad and overcame him,
6 Supporting him were al the peoples from the highlands, all from the Euphrates and Tigris andHydaspes, and those from the plains who were subject to Arioch, king of the Elymaeans. Thus many nations hadmustered to take part in the battle of the Cheleoudites.	6 In the great plain which is called Ragua, about the Euphrates, and the Tigris, and the Jadason, in the plain of Erioch the king of the Elicians.
7 Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians sent a message to al the inhabitants of Persia, to all theinhabitants of the western countries, Cilicia, Damascus, Lebanon, Anti-Lebanon, to al those along the coast,	7 Then was the kingdom of Nabuchodonosor exalted, and his heart was elevated: and he sent to all that dwelt in Cilicia and Damascus, and Libanus,
8 to the peoples of Carmel, Gilead, Upper Galilee, the great plain of Esdraelon,	8 And to the nations that are in Carmelus, and Cedar, and to the inhabitants of Galilee in the great plain of Asdrelon,
9 to the people of Samaria and its outlying towns, to those beyond Jordan, as far away as Jerusalem,Bethany, Chelous, Kadesh, the river of Egypt, Tahpanhes, Rameses and the whole territory of Goshen,	9 And to all that were in Samaria, and beyond the river Jordan even to Jerusalem, and all the land of Jesse till you come to the borders of Ethiopia.
10 beyond Tanis too and Memphis, and to al the inhabitants of Egypt as far as the frontiers of Ethiopia.	10 To all these Nabuchodonosor king of the Assyrians, sent messengers:
11 But the inhabitants of these countries ignored the summons of Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyriansand did not ral y to him to make war. They were not afraid of him, since in their view he appeared isolated.Hence they sent his ambassadors back with nothing achieved and in disgrace.	11 But they all with one mind refused, and sent them back empty, and rejected them without honour.
12 Nebuchadnezzar was furious with al these countries. He swore by his throne and kingdom to takerevenge on al the territories of Cilicia, Damascus and Syria, of the Moabites and of the Ammonites, of Judaeaand Egypt as far as the limits of the two seas, and to ravage them with the sword.	12 Then king Nabuchodonosor being angry against all that land, swore by his throne and kingdom that he would revenge himself of all those countries.
13 In the seventeenth year, he gave battle with his whole army to King Arphaxad and in this battledefeated him. He routed Arphaxad's entire army and al his cavalry and chariots;
14 he occupied his towns and advanced on Ecbatana; he seized its towers and plundered its marketplaces, reducing its former magnificence to a mockery.
15 He later captured Arphaxad in the mountains of Ragae and, thrusting him through with his spears,destroyed him once and for al .
16 He then retired with his troops and al who had joined forces with him: a vast horde of armed men.Then he and his army gave themselves up to carefree feasting for a hundred and twenty days.