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Judith 1-3
New American Bible (Revised Edition)

I. Assyrian Threat[a]

Chapter 1

Nebuchadnezzar Against Arphaxad.[b] 1 It was the twelfth year[c] of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, who ruled over the Assyrians in the great city of Nineveh. At that time Arphaxad was ruling over the Medes in Ecbatana.(A) 2 [d]Around Ecbatana he built a wall of hewn stones, three cubits thick and six cubits long. He made the walls seventy cubits high and fifty cubits wide. 3 At its gates he raised towers one hundred cubits high with foundations sixty cubits wide. 4 He made its gates seventy cubits high and forty cubits wide to allow passage of his mighty forces, with his infantry in formation. 5 At that time King Nebuchadnezzar waged war against King Arphaxad in the vast plain that borders Ragau.[e] 6 Rallying to him were all who lived in the hill country, all who lived along the Euphrates, the Tigris, and the Hydaspes, as well as Arioch, king of the Elamites, in the plains. Thus many nations joined the ranks of the Chelodites.[f](B)

7 Then Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians, contacted all the inhabitants of Persia[g] and all who lived in the west, the inhabitants of Cilicia and Damascus, Lebanon and Antilebanon, and all who lived along the seacoast, 8 the peoples of Carmel, Gilead, Upper Galilee, and the vast plain of Esdraelon, 9 and all in Samaria and its cities, and west of the Jordan as far as Jerusalem, Bethany, Chelous, Kadesh,(C) and the river of Egypt; Tahpanhes,(D) Raamses, all the land of Goshen, 10 Tanis, Memphis(E) and beyond, and all the inhabitants of Egypt as far as the borders of Ethiopia.

11 But all the inhabitants of the whole land[h] made light of the summons of Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians, and would not join him in the war. They were not afraid of him, since he was only a single opponent. So they sent back his envoys empty-handed and disgraced.(F) 12 Then Nebuchadnezzar fell into a violent rage against all the land, and swore by his throne and his kingdom that he would take revenge on all the territories of Cilicia, Damascus, and Syria, and would destroy with his sword all the inhabitants of Moab, Ammon, the whole of Judea, and all those living in Egypt as far as the coasts of the two seas.[i]

Defeat of Arphaxad. 13 In the seventeenth year[j] he mustered his forces against King Arphaxad and was victorious in his campaign. He routed the whole force of Arphaxad, his entire cavalry, and all his chariots, 14 and took possession of his cities. He pressed on to Ecbatana, took its towers, sacked its marketplaces, and turned its glory into shame. 15 He captured Arphaxad in the mountains of Ragau, ran him through with spears, and utterly destroyed him once and for all. 16 Then he returned to Nineveh with all his consolidated forces, a very great multitude of warriors; and there he and his forces relaxed and feasted for one hundred and twenty days.(G)

Chapter 2

Revenge Planned Against the Western Nations.[k] 1 In the eighteenth year,[l] on the twenty-second day of the first month, there was a discussion in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians, about taking revenge on all the land, as he had threatened.(H) 2 He summoned all his attendants and officers, laid before them his secret plan, and with his own lips recounted in full detail the wickedness of all the land. 3 They decided to destroy all who had refused to obey the order he had issued.

4 When he had fully recounted his plan, Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians, summoned Holofernes, the ranking general[m] of his forces, second only to himself in command, and said to him: 5 “Thus says the great king, the lord of all the earth: Go forth from my presence, take with you men of proven valor, one hundred and twenty thousand infantry and twelve thousand cavalry,(I) 6 and proceed against all the land of the west, because they disobeyed the order I issued. 7 Tell them to have earth and water[n] ready, for I will come against them in my wrath; I will cover all the land with the feet of my soldiers, to whom I will deliver them as spoils. 8 Their wounded will fill their ravines and wadies, the swelling river will be choked with their dead; 9 and I will deport them as exiles to the very ends of the earth.

10 “Go before me and take possession of all their territories for me. If they surrender to you, guard them for me until the day of their sentencing. 11 As for those who disobey, show them no mercy, but deliver them up to slaughter and plunder in all the land you occupy.(J) 12 For as I live,[o] and by the strength of my kingdom, what I have spoken I will accomplish by my own hand.(K) 13 Do not disobey a single one of the orders of your lord; fulfill them exactly as I have commanded you, and do it without delay.”

Campaigns of Holofernes.[p] 14 So Holofernes left the presence of his lord, and summoned all the commanders, generals, and officers of the Assyrian forces. 15 He mustered one hundred and twenty thousand picked troops, as his lord had commanded, and twelve thousand mounted archers, 16 and drew them up as a vast force organized for battle. 17 He took along a very large number of camels, donkeys, and mules for carrying their supplies; innumerable sheep, cattle, and goats for their food;(L) 18 abundant provisions for each man, and much gold and silver from the royal palace.

19 Then he and all his forces set out on their expedition in advance of King Nebuchadnezzar, to overrun all the lands of the western region with their chariots, cavalry, and picked infantry. 20 A huge, irregular force, too many to count, like locusts, like the dust of the earth, went along with them.(M)

21 After a three-day march[q] from Nineveh, they reached the plain of Bectileth, and camped opposite Bectileth near the mountains to the north of Upper Cilicia. 22 From there Holofernes took all his forces, the infantry, cavalry, and chariots, and marched into the hill country. 23 He devastated Put and Lud,[r] and plundered all the Rassisites and the Ishmaelites on the border of the wilderness toward the south of the Chelleans.(N)

24 Then, following the Euphrates, he went through Mesopotamia, and battered down every fortified city along the Wadi Abron, until he reached the sea. 25 He seized the territory of Cilicia, and cut down everyone who resisted him. Then he proceeded to the southern borders of Japheth, toward Arabia. 26 He surrounded all the Midianites, burned their tents, and sacked their encampments.(O) 27 Descending to the plain of Damascus at the time of the wheat harvest, he set fire to all their fields, destroyed their flocks and herds, looted their cities, devastated their plains, and put all their young men to the sword.(P)

28 (Q)Fear and dread of him fell upon all the inhabitants of the coastland, upon those in Sidon and Tyre,(R) and those who dwelt in Sur and Ocina, and the inhabitants of Jamnia. Those in Azotus and Ascalon also feared him greatly.[s]

Chapter 3

Submission of the Vassal Nations. 1 So they sent messengers to him to sue for peace in these words: 2 “We, the servants of Nebuchadnezzar the great king, lie prostrate before you; do with us as you will. 3 See, our dwellings and all our land and every wheat field, our flocks and herds, and all our encampments are at your disposal; make use of them as you please. 4 Our cities and their inhabitants are also at your service; come and deal with them as you see fit.”

5 After the spokesmen had reached Holofernes and given him this message, 6 he went down with his forces to the seacoast, stationed garrisons in the fortified cities, and took selected men from them as auxiliaries. 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 But he devastated their whole territory and cut down their sacred groves, for he was allowed to destroy all the gods of the land, so that every nation might worship only Nebuchadnezzar, and all their tongues and tribes should invoke him as a god.[t](S) 9 At length Holofernes reached Esdraelon in the neighborhood of Dothan,[u] the approach to the main ridge of the Judean mountains; 10 he set up his camp between Geba[v] and Scythopolis, and stayed there a whole month to replenish all the supplies of his forces.

Footnotes

  1. 1:1–3:10 This section consists of an introduction to Nebuchadnezzar (1:1–16), his commissioning of Holofernes (2:1–13), and a description of the campaigns Holofernes leads against the disobedient vassal nations of the west (2:14–3:10).
  2. 1:1–16 Introduction to Nebuchadnezzar and his campaign against Arphaxad. Nebuchadnezzar (605/4–562 B.C.), the most famous Neo-Babylonian king, destroyed Jerusalem in 587 B.C., the eighteenth year of his reign (see Jer 32:1). His depiction here as an Assyrian is an invention of the author, as is the description of Arphaxad, an otherwise unknown king of the Medes, in Ecbatana.
  3. 1:1 Twelfth year: in the twelfth year of Nebuchadnezzar (593 B.C.) Zedekiah, king of Judah, refused to join a revolt against him (see Jer 27:3; 28:1). Nineveh: capital of Assyria, destroyed in 612 B.C.
  4. 1:2–4 Since a cubit was the distance from the elbow to the fingertip (approximately eighteen inches), these dimensions are prodigious. The massive wall around Ecbatana is described as 105 feet high and 75 feet thick, with each stone measuring four and a half feet thick and nine feet long. The tower gates are 150 feet high and 60 feet wide. Such unlikely massive structures have never been found at Ecbatana, which lies beneath the modern city of Hamadan, located in the Zagros mountains of northwest Iran. Ecbatana is mentioned in vv. 1, 2, 14 as Arphaxad’s headquarters. Tradition claims Esther and Mordecai are buried there.
  5. 1:5 Ragau, the place where Arphaxad is slain (v. 15), one of the oldest settlements in Iran, is located on a plain one hundred miles northeast of Ecbatana. In the Book of Tobit it is the home of Gabael (Tb 1:14; 4:1, 20; 5:6; 6:13; 9:2, 5).
  6. 1:6 Chelodites: Greek Cheleoud, probably a corruption of “Chaldeans,” i.e., the Neo-Babylonians.
  7. 1:7 Mention of Persia suggests a postexilic setting for the book, since this area would have been designated Media before the middle of the fifth century B.C.
  8. 1:11 References to “the whole land,” “all the land” are used ten times in the first two chapters (vv. 11, 12; 2:1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 19). This signifies all the nations west of Persia as far as Egypt that were subject to Nebuchadnezzar, i.e., the whole earth or world (esp. 2:9). These and similar formulations throughout the book build the case that the “God of heaven” (5:8; 6:19; 11:17) is the true “Master of heaven and earth” (9:12).
  9. 1:12 The two seas: probably the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf, though possibly the Red Sea and Mediterranean.
  10. 1:13 Seventeenth year: 588 B.C. Without help from the vassal nations, Nebuchadnezzar defeats Arphaxad.
  11. 2:1–13 Nebuchadnezzar commissions Holofernes to take vengeance on the vassal nations that refused him auxiliary military support (see 1:7–12).
  12. 2:1 Eighteenth year: 587 B.C. Most of the story is set in the catastrophic year when the historical Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, destroyed Jerusalem.
  13. 2:4 The ranking general: Holofernes is so identified six times in Judith. See also 4:1; 5:1; 6:1; 10:13; 13:15. Holofernes and Bagoas (12:11) are Persian names; two officers of Artaxerxes III Ochos (358–338 B.C.) were so named.
  14. 2:7 Earth and water: in the Persian period, offering these to a conqueror was a symbolic gesture signifying humble submission of one asking for a treaty.
  15. 2:12 As I live: an oath proper to God; see the promissory oath of God the divine warrior in Dt 32:39–42; cf. Is 49:18; Jer 22:24; Ez 5:11. By my own hand: in his pride, Nebuchadnezzar claims to do this by his own hand (cf. Is 10:13). In contrast, Judith claims that God will deliver Israel “by my hand” (8:33; 12:4).
  16. 2:14–3:10 As Holofernes attacks the western nations, terror sweeps across the empire at large (2:28), then Judea (4:1–2), and finally Bethulia (7:1). In these verses, the line of advance is from Nineveh to Damascus and all who submit are nonetheless devastated and forced to worship Nebuchadnezzar.
  17. 2:21 A three-day march: no ancient army could have traveled three hundred miles from Nineveh to Cilicia in three days.
  18. 2:23 Put and Lud: mentioned together in Jer 46:9; Ez 27:10; 30:5. Put is thought to be in Libya in Africa; Lud is usually identified with Lydia in Asia Minor. Rather than indicating definite localities here, Put and Lud add assonance and prophetic overtones to the narrative.
  19. 2:28 Symbolic of the completeness of the terror that descended on the area, seven towns are listed: Tyre, Sidon, Sur, Ocina, Jamnia, Ashdod, and Ashkelon.
  20. 3:8 Invoke him as a god: Holofernes violates Nebuchadnezzar’s instructions (see 2:5–13). No Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian, or Persian king is known to have claimed divinity. During Hellenistic times, Ptolemy V (203–181 B.C.) and the Seleucid Antiochus IV made claims to divinity. In Dn 3 and 6, divinity is ascribed to Nebuchadnezzar and Darius, respectively.
  21. 3:9 Dothan: a town in Ephraimite territory fourteen miles north of Shechem, mentioned elsewhere only twice (Gn 37:17 and 2 Kgs 6:13), but five times in Judith (3:9; 4:6; 7:3, 18; 8:3). Destroyed in 810 B.C. by Aramean invasions, Dothan was deserted until the Hellenistic period when a small settlement was constructed. Because it is mentioned so often, Dothan is sometimes thought to be the author’s home.
  22. 3:10 Geba: location uncertain. Scythopolis, the Greek name for ancient Beth-shean (Jos 17:11), the only city in Judith given its Greek name, strategically guarded the eastern end of the Valley of Jezreel.
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Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.