Judith

This happened in the twelfth year of the reign of Nabuchodonosor, who reigned in Nineveh, the great city. It was in the days of Arphaxad, who reigned over the Medes in the city of Ecbatana.

1In the twelfth year of the reign of Nabuchodonosor, who reigned in Nineve, the great city; in the days of Arphaxad, which reigned over the Medes in Ecbatane,

Note"Nabuchodonosor" is the Greek spelling of Nebuchadnezzar, and the book uses Greek forms of names throughout (Nineve for Nineveh, Galaad for Gilead, and so on). The description does not match known history: the Nebuchadnezzar of record ruled Babylon, not Assyria, and Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, was destroyed in 612 BC, some years before he came to the throne. No Median king named Arphaxad is known from any other source. Ecbatana, however, was the real capital of the Medes, a people of what is now northwestern Iran; the site is the modern city of Hamadan. Dating by the regnal year of a king ("the twelfth year") was the normal way to fix a date in the ancient Near East.

2Arphaxad built walls all around Ecbatana out of cut stones three cubits thick and six cubits long. He made the wall seventy cubits high and fifty cubits thick.

2And built in Ecbatane walls round about of stones hewn three cubits broad and six cubits long, and made the height of the wall seventy cubits, and the breadth thereof fifty cubits:

NoteA cubit was roughly eighteen inches, about the length of a forearm from elbow to fingertip. On that reckoning the wall stands about a hundred and five feet high and seventy-five feet thick, and each stone is about four and a half feet thick and nine feet long. These are extravagant figures: the walls of real ancient cities were a fraction of this.

3He set the city's towers on its gates, a hundred cubits high, and the towers measured sixty cubits across at the foundation.

3And set the towers thereof upon the gates of it an hundred cubits high, and the breadth thereof in the foundation threescore cubits:

NoteAbout a hundred and fifty feet high, with a base about ninety feet across.

4He made its gates too, gates raised to a height of seventy cubits and forty cubits wide, so that his mighty armies could march out through them and his foot soldiers could line up for battle.

4And he made the gates thereof, even gates that were raised to the height of seventy cubits, and the breadth of them was forty cubits, for the going forth of his mighty armies, and for the setting in array of his footmen:

NoteAbout a hundred and five feet high and sixty feet wide. "Footmen" are infantry, soldiers on foot as opposed to cavalry and chariots.

5In those very days King Nabuchodonosor made war on King Arphaxad in the great plain. This is the plain on the borders of Ragau.

5Even in those days king Nabuchodonosor made war with king Arphaxad in the great plain, which is the plain in the borders of Ragau.

NoteRagau is the Greek form of Rages, a Median city southeast of modern Tehran. The country there is mountainous, so placing a "great plain" on its borders is one of several geographical oddities in this chapter.

6All the people who lived in the hill country came to him, and all who lived along the Euphrates, the Tigris, and the Hydaspes, and those from the plain of Arioch, king of the Elymeans. Very many nations of the sons of Chelod gathered for the battle.

6And there came unto him all they that dwelt in the hill country, and all that dwelt by Euphrates, and Tigris and Hydaspes, and the plain of Arioch the king of the Elymeans, and very many nations of the sons of Chelod, assembled themselves to the battle.

NoteThe Hydaspes is a river of the Punjab, a tributary of the Indus far to the east in what is now Pakistan; no river of that name flows anywhere near the Euphrates and Tigris. The Elymeans are the people of Elam, in what is now southwestern Iran. Arioch is a royal name borrowed from Genesis 14. "Chelod" has never been identified with any known people or place.

7Then Nabuchodonosor, king of the Assyrians, sent word to all who lived in Persia, and to all who lived to the west, and to those who lived in Cilicia, Damascus, Libanus, and Antilibanus, and to all who lived along the sea coast,

7Then Nabuchodonosor king of the Assyrians sent unto all that dwelt in Persia, and to all that dwelt westward, and to those that dwelt in Cilicia, and Damascus, and Libanus, and Antilibanus, and to all that dwelt upon the sea coast,

NoteCilicia is the coastal region of southeastern Asia Minor, in modern southern Turkey. Libanus and Antilibanus are the Greek names of the two parallel mountain ranges of Lebanon, the Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon. "The sea coast" means the Mediterranean shore. The list sweeps from Persia in the east to the Mediterranean in the west, naming in effect everyone west of the empire's heartland.

8and to those among the nations who were from Carmel and Galaad, and from upper Galilee and the great plain of Esdrelom,

8And to those among the nations that were of Carmel, and Galaad, and the higher Galilee, and the great plain of Esdrelom,

NoteCarmel is the mountain ridge that juts into the sea at modern Haifa. Galaad is Gilead, the highland region east of the Jordan. Esdrelom is the Greek form of Esdraelon, the wide plain across northern Israel also called the Valley of Jezreel; it was the standard battleground of the region, flat enough for chariots.

9and to all who were in Samaria and its towns, and beyond the Jordan as far as Jerusalem, Betane, Chelus, Kades, the river of Egypt, Taphnes, Ramesse, and the whole land of Gesem,

9And to all that were in Samaria and the cities thereof, and beyond Jordan unto Jerusalem, and Betane, and Chelus, and Kades, and the river of Egypt, and Taphnes, and Ramesse, and all the land of Gesem,

NoteSamaria is the central hill country of Israel; "beyond the Jordan" means the eastern side of the river. Betane and Chelus cannot be identified. Kades is probably Kadesh-barnea, an oasis in the desert south of Judea. "The river of Egypt" is not the Nile but the Wadi el-Arish, a seasonal desert stream traditionally treated as the boundary between Canaan and Egypt. Taphnes and Ramesse are the Greek forms of Tahpanhes and Rameses, cities of the eastern Nile delta, and Gesem is Goshen, the delta district where the Israelites are said to have settled in Genesis and Exodus.

10and on until you come past Tanis and Memphis, and to all the people living in Egypt, until you come to the borders of Ethiopia.

10Until ye come beyond Tanis and Memphis, and to all the inhabitants of Egypt, until ye come to the borders of Ethiopia.

NoteTanis and Memphis were major Egyptian cities, Tanis in the delta and Memphis near modern Cairo. "Ethiopia" here translates the Greek Aithiopia, meaning the land immediately south of Egypt, that is Nubia or Kush in what is now Sudan, and not the modern country of Ethiopia.

11But all the people living in that land treated the order of Nabuchodonosor, king of the Assyrians, as nothing, and they did not go with him to the battle, because they were not afraid of him. To them he was like one man alone. They sent his ambassadors away from them with nothing gained, and shamed as well.

11But all the inhabitants of the land made light of the commandment of Nabuchodonosor king of the Assyrians, neither went they with him to the battle; for they were not afraid of him: yea, he was before them as one man, and they sent away his ambassadors from them without effect, and with disgrace.

Note"He was before them as one man" means they rated him as no more than a single ordinary man, not a king worth fearing. The ambassadors were envoys carrying a formal summons to join the war; sending them home empty-handed and humiliated was itself a recognized insult, roughly equivalent to a declaration that the sender's authority was not accepted.

12So Nabuchodonosor was furious with this whole country. He swore by his throne and his kingdom that he would certainly take revenge on all the territory of Cilicia, and Damascus, and Syria, and that he would kill with the sword everyone living in the land of Moab, and the people of Ammon, and all Judea, and everyone in Egypt, until you come to the borders of the two seas.

12Therefore Nabuchodonosor was very angry with all this country, and sware by his throne and kingdom, that he would surely be avenged upon all those coasts of Cilicia, and Damascus, and Syria, and that he would slay with the sword all the inhabitants of the land of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and all Judea, and all that were in Egypt, till ye come to the borders of the two seas.

NoteSwearing "by his throne and kingdom" stakes his own royal standing on the oath: he cannot back down without losing face. In the King James Version "coasts" means borders or territory in general, not seashore. Which "two seas" is meant is not stated; readers have taken the phrase as the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, or as the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea.

13Then in the seventeenth year he marched in battle formation with his forces against King Arphaxad, and he won the battle. He broke and scattered all of Arphaxad's forces, all his horsemen, and all his chariots.

13Then he marched in battle array with his power against king Arphaxad in the seventeenth year, and he prevailed in his battle: for he overthrew all the power of Arphaxad, and all his horsemen, and all his chariots,

14He became master of Arphaxad's cities. He came to Ecbatana, captured the towers, plundered its streets, and turned its beauty into shame.

14And became lord of his cities, and came unto Ecbatane, and took the towers, and spoiled the streets thereof, and turned the beauty thereof into shame.

Note"Turned its beauty into shame" is a stock phrase for stripping a splendid city bare: its ornament carried off, its public places wrecked, so that what had been admired is now an object of pity or scorn.

15He also captured Arphaxad in the mountains of Ragau, ran him through with his spears, and destroyed him completely that day.

15He took also Arphaxad in the mountains of Ragau, and smote him through with his darts, and destroyed him utterly that day.

Note"Darts" in the King James Version means throwing spears or javelins, weapons of war, not the small darts of a modern game. The Greek manuscripts differ at the end of the verse: some read that he destroyed him "on that day," others "to this day."

16Afterward he went back to Nineveh, he and his whole force gathered from many different nations, a very large crowd of fighting men. There he rested and feasted, he and his army, for a hundred and twenty days.

16So he returned afterward to Nineve, both he and all his company of sundry nations being a very great multitude of men of war, and there he took his ease, and banqueted, both he and his army, an hundred and twenty days.