Nebuchadnezzar's Secret Plan for War
Judith 2, verse 1. In the eighteenth year, on the twenty-second day of the first month, in the house of Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians, it came about there was talk that it was time to take vengeance on all the land, just as he had said. Judith 2, verse 2. So he summoned all his officers and all his nobles, and he laid out verbally all the wickedness of the land. Judith 2, verse 3. They determined to destroy everyone who had not obeyed his summons. Judith 2, verse 4. When he finished his plan, Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians called Holofernes, the chief captain of his army, second in command to him, and said to him, Judith 2, verse 5. “Thus says the great king, the lord of all the earth: Behold! You shall go out from my presence and take men confident in their strength with you, a hundred twenty thousand foot soldiers and twelve thousand cavalry. Judith 2, verse 6. March against all the land of the west, because they disobeyed my commands. Judith 2, verse 7. You shall order them to prepare the earth and water, for I will come out in wrath, and I will cover the whole face of the land with the footprints of my army, and I will give them over to my army as plunder. Judith 2, verse 8. Their wounded will fill the valleys, and their brooks and rivers shall be overflowing with their dead. Judith 2, verse 9. I will lead them away as captives to the end of the whole earth. Judith 2, verse 10. And going out ahead of me, you shall seize all their territory. They will surrender themselves to you, and you shall hold them for me until the day of their punishment. Judith 2, verse 11. Against the ones who refuse, let your eye not spare them, and give them over to slaughter and plunder throughout all your territory. Judith 2, verse 12. For as I live, and by the power of my kingdom, what I have spoken I will do by my hand. Judith 2, verse 13. Take heed and do not transgress any of the orders of your lord, but carry them out fully just as I have commanded you, and do it without any delay.”
Holofernes’ March through the West
Judith 2, verse 14. So Holofernes went out from the presence of his lord and called all the generals, captains, and officers of the Assyrian army. Judith 2, verse 15. And as his lord had commanded him to do, he mobilized one hundred twenty thousand select men for the battle, together with twelve thousand archers on horseback, Judith 2, verse 16. and he set them in formation as any great army is organized in time of war. Judith 2, verse 17. He brought a great number of camels, donkeys, and mules to transport their baggage; innumerable sheep, goats, and oxen for their food supply; Judith 2, verse 18. ample provisions for every man, and a great quantity of gold and silver from the king's palace. Judith 2, verse 19. He marched out with his entire army to go in advance of Nebuchadnezzar the king to cover the entire face of the land to the west with their chariots, cavalry, and their select infantry. Judith 2, verse 20. And along with them went a great mixed crowd, like a swarm of locusts, like the dust of the earth, for the multitude could not be numbered. Judith 2, verse 21. And they went out from Nineveh three days’ journey to the plain of Bectileth, and they camped over against Bectileth, near the mountain to the left of Upper Cilicia. Judith 2, verse 22. Then he took his entire army—his infantry, the cavalry, and his chariots—and went from there into the hill country. Judith 2, verse 23. He ravaged Put and Lud, and he plundered all the Rassisites and the Ishmaelites along the desert towards the south of the Chelleans. Judith 2, verse 24. Then he followed the Euphrates and passed through Mesopotamia, destroying all the fortified cities along the river Abron, until he came to the sea. Judith 2, verse 25. He captured the region of Cilicia and killed everyone who resisted him, and came as far as the southern borders of Japheth, opposite Arabia. Judith 2, verse 26. He encircled all the Midianites and torched their tents and plundered their sheepfolds. Judith 2, verse 27. Next he marched down into the plain of Damascus at the time of the wheat harvest and burned all their fields, destroying their flocks and herds. He sacked their cities, ravaged their lands, and struck down all their youths with the edge of the sword. Judith 2, verse 28. Thus fear and dread of him came upon all the inhabitants of the seacoast, at Sidon and Tyre, and those living in Sur and Ocina, and all those living in Jamnia. Those residing in Azotus and Ashkelon also greatly feared him.