{ "language": "en", "title": "Book of Judith", "versionSource": "https://www.sefaria.org", "versionTitle": "Sefaria Community Translation", "versionTitleInHebrew": "תרגום קהילת ספריא", "actualLanguage": "en", "languageFamilyName": "english", "isBaseText": false, "isSource": false, "direction": "ltr", "heTitle": "ספר יהודית", "categories": [ "Second Temple", "Apocrypha" ], "text": [ [ "And it came to pass in the twelfth year of King Nebuchadnezzar who dwelt in Nineveh the Great City of God, that Arpachshad King of Media reigned in Achmata the Capital City, which is also called Ekbatana.", "And he surrounded the city with walls of hewn stone, three cubits wide and six cubits high.", "And the height of the walls were seventy cubits and the thickness thereof, fifty cubits.", "And he made towers over the gates of the city, one hundred cubits high and their foundation was sixty cubits.", "And the height of the gates he made were seventy cubits, and their width, forty cubits, to make space for the multitude of their hosts, to go out and array the charioteers with the infantry.", "And it came to pass in those days, that Nebuchadnezzar made war with Arpachshad in the great plain which stretches unto the border of Reu. ", "And all of the inhabitants of the mountains and all of the people who were on the banks of the rivers Euphrates, Hidekel and Gihon and also Arioch King of Elam and many people of the Children of Gilead came to his aid.", "And Nebuchadnezzar the King of Assyria sent emmisaries to call the inhabitants of Persia, and to all those who dwell in the west, which consisted of: Cilicia, Damascus, Lebanon, Carmel, Gilead, the Galilee and the Valley of Jezreel. ", "And the inhabitants of Samaria and her cities, and the nations on the other side of the Jordan unto Jerusalem, and all of the inhabitants of Goshen and the Land of Egypt unto the mountains of Kedar.", "And all of the nations of those lands refused to hearken to the voice of the King of Assyria and they did not come to his aid in battle, for they were not afraid of him. And they rebuffed his ambassadors with disgrace and scorn to their land.", "And the wrath of Nebuchadnezzar burned throughout all of these lands, and he swore on his throne and his kingdom to take vengeance on them, and to destroy all of the borders of Cilicia, Damascus and Aram.", "And to slay by the sword all of the inhabitants of Ammon and Moab, and all of the land of Judah and Egypt and all who are between the two seas in middle. ", "And it came to pass in the seventeenth year of his reign, that he went forth with all of his host toward Arpachshad for battle, and his hand overcame, and he slew his people and his chariots and his horsemen by the sword.", "And after he took all of the cities, he also came to Achmata, and he conquered the towers and made the streets of the city desolate, and all of its glory turned into waste.", "And he was in hot pursuit of Arpachshad near the Mountains of Reu, and he shot him with his arrows and smote him.", "And afterwards he returned with all of the soldiers of his host to Nineveh, and he dwelt there happy and of good cheer, and he made for them a feast for one hundred and twenty days. " ], [ "And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of his reign, in the twenty second day of the first month, that he convened a council in the palace to take vengeance against all of these nations as he had spoken.", "And the King called for all of his officers and his servants, and he told them his plan, and recounted to them the wickedness of all of these nations.", "And it came to pass when they were all saying to wipe out and destroy all of the nations that did not hearken to the voice of the King, that the King called his General and Viceroy Holofernes, and he said to him:", "So said Nebuchadnezzar the Great, King over all the land.", "Make haste and select for yourself one hundred and twenty thousand Elite Infantry and twelve thousand Cavalry.", "And go out to war against all of the lands that are from the sea unto my Kingdom, and who have not hearkened to my voice.", "And you shall say to them: \"Your lands and your seas are mine\".", "Behold I have gone forth with my anger and my wrath toward you, and have covered the appearance of your land with the multitude of my hosts, and I shall give it to them as spoil.", "The valleys and the streams shall be full of your slain, and the rivers shall be fouled from the corpses of your dead, and I shall scatter the captives unto the outskirts of the Earth. ", "You shall go before me and burst forth over all the borders of their land. And it shall be, they will be subdued under your hand until the day of my visitation upon them.", "And should they take a stand against you, than you shall obliterate them by the sword. Your eye should not take pity on them, and all of the land shall become plunder.", "And now, by myself I have sworn, and by my Kingdom, that it is in my power to do as I have spoken.", "Therefore hasten and do as I have commanded you, fulfill my commands to the letter, and verily do not delay!", "And Holofernes departed from the presence of the King. And he informed all of the officers of the Army and all of the commanders of the Land of Aram. And he commanded the men of his Host, all of them them valiant warriors, as the King had commanded.", "And their command was one hundred and twenty thousand infantry and twelve thousand horsemen equipped with bows.", "And he arrayed them as was the custom, and they passed before him. There were innumerable amounts of camels and donkeys with them, carrying their baggage. Also an exceeding amount of flocks of sheep and herds of cattle.", "And also grain and provisions to sustain all of this great multitude, and an abundance of gold and silver from the treasury of the King.", "And he traveled with this entire army; horse, chariot and rider before the Viceroy, and they covered the appearance of the land, and went towards the sea.", "And also camp followers traveled with them like locusts and like sand over the face of the of the earth, which were innumerable. ", "And he traveled from Nineveh a journey of three days, until the plains of Bectileth and he encamped under the mountains to the north of Cilicia.", "And from there he traveled with all of his camp, and his chariots and horsemen into the highlands.", "And he overturned Put and Lud and destroyed all of the Children of Tarshish, and the Children of Ishmael who dwell at the edge of the desert, south of Cheleon.", "And he crossed the Euphrates River and went to Padan Aram, and destroyed all the fortified cities from the Brook of Arnon unto the Sea.", "And he conquered all of the borders of Cilicia, and all those who stood before him he slew by the sword. And he came to the mountains of Japheth which are opposite the land of Arabia.", "And he surrounded all of the inhabitants of Midian, and set fire to their tents, and destroyed their pastureland.", "And it came to pass at the time of the harvest, that he went down to Damascus and burned the standing grain of the city, and eradicated all of the sheep and cattle.", "The city, they plundered and looted, and its fields, they destroyed. And every man of fighting age, they slew by the sword.", "And his dread fell over all the inhabitants of the coastal region, upon the inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon, Acco and Jamnia.", "And also the inhabitants of Ashdod and Ashkelon were afraid, and trembled before him. " ], [ "And they sent envoys to him to sue for peace and they said:", "Servants are we, to the noble King Nebuchadnezzar.", "Behold we have fallen before you to the ground, do with us as you see fit.", "All that is ours is yours. Our farmsteads and cities, our cattle and sheep folds and our tents are before you, to do with as you please.", "All of the cities and their inhabitants are given into your hands, please come to us and go down with us as you please.", "And it came to pass when they spoke to him in these manner of words, that he went down with his army from the highlands towards them, toward the banks of the sea, and he placed a garrison in every fortified city, and the best of the people, he drafted as auxiliaries.", "And all of the land all around went forth towards him with flutes and drums and dances.", "But he destroyed all of the borders of the land and cut down their Asherah Poles. ", "For so he set out in his heart to wipe out all of the gods of the lands, in order that all of the peoples will bow down to Nebuchadnezzar, and every tongue will call his name.", "From there he traveled towards Jezreel near Dothan, opposite the fortified mountains of Judah.", "And he camped his encampment between Jogbehah and Ebel-Shittim, and he dwelt there a full month until all the forage was gathered to the camps." ] ], "sectionNames": [ "Chapter", "Verse" ] }