Iudith 3

VULGATA	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Tunc miserunt legatos suos universarum urbium ac provinciarum reges ac principes, Syriæ scilicet Mesopotamiæ, et Syriæ Sobal, et Libyæ, atque Ciliciæ : qui venientes ad Holofernem, dixerunt :	1 They therefore sent messengers to him to sue for peace in these words:
2 Desinat indignatio tua circa nos : melius est enim ut viventes serviamus Nabuchodonosor regi magno, et subditi simus tibi, quam morientes cum interitu nostro ipsi servitutis nostræ damna patiamur.	2 "We, the servants of Nebuchadnezzar the great king, lie prostrate before you; do with us as you will.
3 Omnis civitas nostra, omnisque possessio, omnes montes, et colles, et campi, et armenta boum, gregesque ovium, et caprarum, equorumque et camelorum, et universæ facultates nostræ atque familiæ, in conspectu tuo sunt :	3 Our dwellings and all our wheat fields, our flocks and herds, and all our encampments are at your disposal; make use of them as you please.
4 sint omnia nostra sub lege tua.	4 Our cities and their inhabitants are also at your service; come and deal with them as you see fit."
5 Nos, et filii nostri, servi tui sumus.	5 After the spokesmen had reached Holofernes and given him this message,
6 Veni nobis pacificus dominus, et utere servitio nostro, sicut placuerit tibi.	6 he went down with his army to the seacoast, and stationed garrisons in the fortified cities; from them he impressed picked troops as auxiliaries.
7 Tunc descendit de montibus cum equitibus in virtute magna, et obtinuit omnem civitatem, et omnem inhabitantem terram.	7 The people of these cities and all the inhabitants of the countryside received him with garlands and dancing to the sound of timbrels.
8 De universis autem urbibus assumpsit sibi auxiliarios viros fortes, et electos ad bellum.	8 Nevertheless, he devastated their whole territory and cut down their sacred groves, for he had been commissioned to destroy all the gods of the earth, so that every nation might worship Nebuchadnezzar alone, and every people and tribe invoke him as a god.
9 Tantusque metus provinciis illis incubuit, ut universarum urbium habitatores principes et honorati simul cum populis exirent obviam venienti,	9 At length Holofernes reached Esdraelon in the neighborhood of Dothan, the approach to the main ridge of the Judean mountains;
10 excipientes eum cum coronis et lampadibus, ducentes choros in tympanis et tibiis.	10 he set up his camp between Geba and Scythopolis, and stayed there a whole month to refurbish all the equipment of his army.
11 Nec ista tamen facientes, ferocitatem ejus pectoris mitigare potuerunt :
12 nam et civitates eorum destruxit, et lucos eorum excidit.
13 Præceperat enim illi Nabuchodonosor rex, ut omnes deos terræ exterminaret, videlicet ut ipse solus diceretur deus ab his nationibus quæ potuissent Holofernis potentia subjugari.
14 Pertransiens autem Syriam Sobal, et omnem Apameam, omnemque Mesopotamiam, venit ad Idumæos in terram Gabaa,
15 accepitque civitates eorum, et sedit ibi per triginta dies, in quibus diebus adunari præcepit universum exercitum virtutis suæ.