2
1 And in the eighteenth year, the two and twentieth day of the first month, there was talk in the house
of Nabuchodonosor king of the Assyrians that he should, as he said, avenge himself on all the earth.
2 So he called unto him all his officers, and all his nobles, and communicated with them his secret counsel,
and concluded the afflicting of the whole earth out of his own mouth.
4 And when he had ended his counsel, Nabuchodonosor king of the Assyrians called Holofernes the chief captain
of his army, which was next unto him, and said unto him.
5 Thus saith the great king, the lord of the whole earth, Behold, thou shalt go forth from my presence,
and take with thee men that trust in their own strength, of footmen an hundred and twenty thousand; and
the number of horses with their riders twelve thousand.
7 And thou shalt declare unto that they prepare for me earth and water: for I will go forth in my wrath
against them and will cover the whole face of the earth with the feet of mine army, and I will give them
for a spoil unto them:
8 So that their slain shall fill their valleys and brooks and the river shall be filled with their dead,
till it overflow:
10 Thou therefore shalt go forth. and take beforehand for me all their coasts: and if they will yield themselves
unto thee, thou shalt reserve them for me till the day of their punishment.
11 But concerning them that rebel, let not thine eye spare them; but put them to the slaughter, and spoil
them wheresoever thou goest.
12 For as I live, and by the power of my kingdom, whatsoever I have spoken, that will I do by mine hand.
13 And take thou heed that thou transgress none of the commandments of thy lord, but accomplish them fully,
as I have commanded thee, and defer not to do them.
14 Then Holofernes went forth from the presence of his lord, and called all the governors and captains,
and the officers of the army of Assur;
15 And he mustered the chosen men for the battle, as his lord had commanded him, unto an hundred and twenty
thousand, and twelve thousand archers on horseback;
17 And he took camels and asses for their carriages, a very great number; and sheep and oxen and goats without
number for their provision:
18 And plenty of victual for every man of the army, and very much gold and silver out of the king’s house.
19 Then he went forth and all his power to go before king Nabuchodonosor in the voyage, and to cover all
the face of the earth westward with their chariots, and horsemen, and their chosen footmen.
20 A great number also sundry countries came with them like locusts, and like the sand of the earth: for
the multitude was without number.
21 And they went forth of Nineve three days’ journey toward the plain of Bectileth, and pitched from Bectileth
near the mountain which is at the left hand of the upper Cilicia.
22 Then he took all his army, his footmen, and horsemen and chariots, and went from thence into the hill
country;
23 And destroyed Phud and Lud, and spoiled all the children of Rasses, and the children of Israel, which
were toward the wilderness at the south of the land of the Chellians.
24 Then he went over Euphrates, and went through Mesopotamia, and destroyed all the high cities that were
upon the river Arbonai, till ye come to the sea.
25 And he took the borders of Cilicia, and killed all that resisted him, and came to the borders of Japheth,
which were toward the south, over against Arabia.
26 He compassed also all the children of Madian, and burned up their tabernacles, and spoiled their sheepcotes.