Judith 5

NEW JERUSALEM	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 Holofernes, general-in-chief of the Assyrian army, received the intel igence that the Israelites werepreparing for war, that they had closed the mountain passes, fortified al the high peaks and laid obstructions inthe plains.	1 And it was told Holofernes the general of the army of the Assyrians, that the children of Israel prepared themselves to resist, and had shut up the ways of the mountains.
2 Holofernes was furious. He summoned al the princes of Moab, al the generals of Ammon and al thesatraps of the coastal regions.	2 And he was transported with exceeding great fury and indignation, and he called all the princes of Moab and the leaders of Amman.
3 'Men of Canaan,' he said, 'tel me: what people is this that occupies the hill-country? What towns does itinhabit? How large is its army? What are the sources of its power and strength? Who is the king who rules it andcommands its army?	3 And he said to them: Tell me what is this people that besetteth the mountains: or what are their cities, and of what sort, and how great: also what is their power, or what is their multitude: or who is the king over their warfare:
4 Why have they disdained to wait on me, as all the western peoples have?'	4 And why they above all that dwell in the east, have despised us, and have not come out to meet us, that they might receive us with peace?
5 Achior, leader of al the Ammonites, replied, 'May my lord be pleased to listen to what your servant isgoing to say. I shall give you the facts about these mountain folk whose home lies close to you. You wil hear nolie from the mouth of your servant.	5 Then Achior captain of all the children of Ammon answering, said: If thou vouch safe, my lord, to hear, I will tell the truth in thy sight concerning this people, that dwelleth in the mountains, and there shall not a false word come out of my mouth.
6 These people are descended from the Chaldaeans.	6 This people is of the offspring of the Chaldeans.
7 They once came to live in Mesopotamia, because they did not want to fol ow the gods of their ancestorswho lived in Chaldaea.	7 They dwelt first in Mesopotamia, because they would not follow the gods of their fathers, who were in the land of the Chaldeans.
8 They abandoned the way of their ancestors to worship the God of heaven, the God they learnt toacknowledge. Banished from the presence of their own gods, they fled to Mesopotamia where they lived for along time.	8 Wherefore forsaking the ceremonies of their fathers, which consisted in the worship of many gods,
9 When God told them to leave their home and set out for Canaan, they settled there and accumulatedgold and silver and great herds of cattle.	9 They worshipped one God of heaven, who also commanded them to depart from thence, and to dwell in Charan. And when there was a famine over all the land, they went down into Egypt, and there for four hundred years were so multiplied, that the army of them could not be numbered.
10 Next, famine having overwhelmed the land of Canaan, they went down to Egypt where they stayed tilthey were well nourished. There they became a great multitude, a race beyond counting.	10 And when the king of Egypt oppressed them, and made slaves of them to labour in clay and brick, in the building of his cities, they cried to their Lord, and he struck the whole land of Egypt with divers plagues.
11 But the king of Egypt turned against them and exploited them by forcing them to make bricks; hedegraded them, reducing them to slavery.	11 And when the Egyptians had cast them out from them, and the plague had ceased from them, and they had a mind to take them again, and bring them back to their service,
12 They cried to their God, who struck the entire land of Egypt with incurable plagues, and the Egyptiansexpel ed them.	12 The God of heaven opened the sea to them in their flight, so that the waters were made to stand firm as a wall on either side, and they walked through the bottom of the sea and passed it dry foot.
13 God dried up the Red Sea before them	13 And when an innumerable army of the Egyptians pursued after them in that place, they were so overwhelmed with the waters, that there was not one left, to tell what had happened to posterity.
14 and led them forward by way of Sinai and Kadesh-Barnea. Having driven off all the inhabitants of thedesert,	14 And after they came out of the Red Sea, they abode in the deserts of mount Sina, in which never man could dwell, or son of man rested.
15 they settled in the land of the Amorites and in their strength exterminated the entire population ofHeshbon. Then, having crossed the Jordan, they took possession of al the hil -country,	15 There bitter fountains were made sweet for them to drink, and for forty years they received food from heaven.
16 driving out the Canaanites before them and the Perizzites, Jebusites, Shechemites and all theGirgashites, and lived there for many years.	16 Wheresoever they went in without bow and arrow, and without shield and sword, their God fought for them and overcame.
17 Al the while they did not sin before their God, prosperity was theirs, for they have a God who hateswickedness.	17 And there was no one that triumphed over this people, but when they departed from the worship of the Lord their God.
18 But when they turned from the path he had marked out for them some were exterminated in a series ofbattles, others were taken captive to a foreign land. The Temple of their God was rased to the ground and theirtowns were seized by their enemies.	18 But as often as beside their own God, they worshipped any other, they were given to spoil, and to the sword, and to reproach.
19 Then having turned once again to their God, they came back from the places to which they had beendispersed and scattered, regained possession of Jerusalem, where they have their Temple, and reoccupied thehil -country which had been left deserted.	19 And as often as they were penitent for having revolted from the worship of their God, the God of heaven gave them power to resist.
20 So, now, master and lord, if this people has committed any fault, if they have sinned against their God,let us first be sure that they real y have this reason to fail, then advance and attack them.	20 So they overthrew the king of the Chanaanites, and of the Jebusites, and of the Pherezites, and of the Hethites, and of the Hevites, and of the Amorrhites, and all the mighty ones in Hesebon, and they possessed their lands, and their cities:
21 But if their nation is guiltless, my lord would do better to abstain, for fear that their Lord and God shouldprotect them. We should then become the laughing-stock of the whole world.'	21 And as long as they sinned not in the sight of their God, it was well with them: for their God hateth iniquity.
22 When Achior had ended this speech, all the people crowding round the tent began protesting.Holofernes' own senior officers, as wel as al the coastal peoples and the Moabites, threatened to tear him limbfrom limb.	22 And even some years ago when they had revolted from the way which God had given them to walk therein, they were destroyed in battles by many nations, and very many of them were led away captive into a strange land.
23 'Why should we be afraid of the Israelites? They are a weak and powerless people, quite unable tostand a stiff attack.	23 But of late returning to the Lord their God, from the different places wherein they were scattered, they are come together and are gone up into all these mountains, and possess Jerusalem again, where their holies are
24 Forward! Advance! Your army, Holofernes our master, wil swal ow them in one mouthful!'	24 Now therefore, my lord, search if there be any iniquity of theirs in the sight of their God: let us go up to them, because their God will surely deliver them to thee, and they shall be brought under the yoke of thy power:
	25 But if there be no offense of this people in the sight of their God, we can not resist them, because their God will defend them: and we shall be a reproach to the whole earth.
	26 And it came to pass, when Achior had ceased to speak these words, all the great men of Holofernes were angry, and they had a mind to kill him, saying to each other:
	27 Who is this, that saith the children of Israel can resist king Nabuchodonosor, and his armies, men unarmed, and without force, and without skill in the art of war?
	28 That Achior therefore may know that he deceiveth us, let us go up into the mountains: and when the bravest of them shall be taken, then shall he with them be stabbed with the sword:
	29 That every nation may know that Nabuchodonosor is god of the earth, and besides him there is no other.