Judith 3

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 They therefore sent envoys to him to sue for peace, to say,	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 are servants of the great King Nebuchadnezzar; we lie prostrate before you. Treat us as you thinkfit.	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 cattle-farms, al our land, al our wheat fields, our flocks and herds, all the sheep-folds in ourencampments are at your disposal. Do with 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 towns and their inhabitants too are at your service; go and treat them as you think fit.'	4 Let all that we have be subject to your law.
5 These men came to Holofernes and delivered the message as above.	5 We, and our sons, are your servants.
6 He then made his way down to the coast with his army and stationed garrisons in al the fortified towns,levying outstanding men there 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 of al the other towns in the neighbourhood welcomed him, wearinggarlands and dancing to the sound of tambourines.	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 But he demolished their shrines and cut down their sacred trees, carrying out his commission to destroyal local gods so that the nations should worship Nebuchadnezzar alone and people of every language andnationality should hail him as a god.	8 And, from all the cities, he took for himself auxiliaries: strong men and well-chosen for war.
9 Thus he reached the edge of Esdraelon, in the neighbourhood of Dothan, a vil age facing the great ridgeof Judaea.	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 pitched camp between Geba and Scythopolis and stayed there a ful month to re-provision hisforces.	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.