Judith 7

¹ The fol owing day Holofernes issued orders to his whole army and to the whole host of auxiliaries whohad joined him, to break camp and march on Bethulia, to occupy the mountain passes and so open thecampaign against the Israelites.

² The troops broke camp that same day. The actual fighting force numbered one hundred and twentythousand infantry and twelve thousand cavalry, not to mention the baggage train with the vast number of men onfoot concerned with that.

³ They penetrated the val ey in the neighbourhood of Bethulia, near the spring, and deployed on a widefront from Dothan to Balbaim and, in depth, from Bethulia to Cyamon, which faces Esdraelon.

⁴ When the Israelites saw this horde, they were al appal ed and said to each other, 'Now they wil lick thewhole country clean. Not even the loftiest peaks, the gorges or the hil s wil be able to stand the weight of them.'

⁵ Each man snatched up his arms; they lit beacons on their towers and spent the whole night on watch.

⁶ On the second day Holofernes deployed his entire cavalry in sight of the Israelites in Bethulia.

⁷ He reconnoitred the slopes leading up to the town, located the water-points, seized them and postedpickets over them and returned to the main body.

⁸ The chieftains of the sons of Esau, al the leaders of the Moabites and the generals of the coastal districtthen came to him and said,

⁹ 'If our master wil be pleased to listen to us, his forces wil not sustain a single wound.

¹⁰ These Israelites do not rely so much on their spears as on the height of the mountains where they live.And admittedly it is not at all easy to scale these heights of theirs.

¹¹ 'This being the case, master, avoid engaging them in a pitched battle and then you wil not lose a singleman.

¹² Stay in camp, keep al your troops there too, while your servants seize the spring which rises at the footof the mountain,

¹³ since that is what provides the population of Bethulia with their water supply. Thirst wil then force themto surrender their town. Meanwhile, we and our men wil climb the nearest mountain tops and form advanceposts there to prevent anyone from leaving the town.

¹⁴ Hunger wil waste them, with their wives and children, and before the sword can reach them they wilalready be lying in the streets outside their houses.

¹⁵ And you will make them pay dearly for their defiance and their refusal to meet you peaceably.'

¹⁶ Their words pleased Holofernes as wel as al his officers, and he decided to do as they suggested.

¹⁷ Accordingly, a troop of Moabites moved forward with a further five thousand Assyrians. Theypenetrated the val ey and seized the Israelites' waterpoints and springs.

¹⁸ Meanwhile the Edomites and Ammonites went and took up positions in the highlands opposite Dothan,sending some of their men to the south-east opposite Egrebel near Chous on the Wadi Mochmur. The rest of theAssyrian army took up positions in the plain, covering every inch of the ground; their tents and equipment madean immense encampment, so vast were their numbers.

¹⁹ The Israelites cal ed on the Lord their God, dispirited because the enemy had surrounded them and cutal line of retreat.

²⁰ For thirty-four days the Assyrian army, infantry, chariots, cavalrymen, had them surrounded. Everywater-jar the inhabitants of Bethulia had was empty,

²¹ their storage-wel s were drying up; on no day could a man drink his fil , since their water was rationed.

²² Their little children pined away, the women and young men grew weak with thirst; they col apsed in the streets and gateways of the town; they had no strength left.

²³ Young men, women, children, the whole people thronged clamouring round Uzziah and the chief menof the town, shouting in the presence of the assembled elders,

²⁴ 'May God be judge between you and us! For you have done us great harm, by not suing for peace withthe Assyrians.

²⁵ And now there is no one to help us. God has delivered us into their hands to be prostrated before themin thirst and utter helplessness.

²⁶ Cal them in at once; hand the whole town over to be sacked by Holofernes' men and al his army.

²⁷ After al , we should be much better off as their booty than we are now; no doubt we shall be enslaved,but at least we shal be alive and not see our little ones dying before our eyes or our wives and childrenperishing.

²⁸ By heaven and earth and by our God, the Lord of our fathers, who is punishing us for our sins and thesins of our ancestors, we implore you to take this course now, today.'

²⁹ Bitter lamentations rose from the whole assembly, and they all cried loudly to the Lord God.

³⁰ Then Uzziah spoke to them, 'Take heart, brothers! Let us hold out five days more. By then the Lord ourGod will take pity on us, for he wil not desert us altogether.

³¹ At the end of this time, if no help is forthcoming, I shall do as you have said.'

³² With that he dismissed the people to their various quarters. The men went to man the wal s and towersof the town, sending the women and children home. The town was ful of despondency.