Judith 3: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Messengers come to Holofernes with words of peace, offering their houses, land, livestock, cities, and people to be used however he sees fit. He moves down to the sea coast, puts garrisons in the hill cities, and takes chosen men from them as allies, and he and his army are welcomed with garlands, dances, and drums. He still tears down their borders and cuts down their sacred groves, having been given the task of destroying the gods of the land so that every nation would worship Nabuchodonosor alone. He then camps between Geba and Scythopolis for a whole month to gather the baggage of his army.

Claim by Claim

1. 3:1
   • They sent ambassadors to him.
   • The ambassadors were sent to negotiate peace.
   • The ambassadors spoke.
2. 3:2
   • The ambassadors said to look.
   • They called themselves the servants of Nabuchodonosor.
   • They called Nabuchodonosor the great king.
   • They said they lie prostrate before him.
   • They told him to use them as seems good in his sight.
3. 3:3
   • They said to look.
   • They said their houses lie before his face.
   • They said all their places lie before his face.
   • They said all their fields of wheat lie before his face.
   • They said their flocks lie before his face.
   • They said their herds lie before his face.
   • They said all the sheepfolds of their tents lie before his face.
   • They told him to use these things as it pleases him.
4. 3:4
   • They said to look.
   • They said their cities are his servants.
   • They said the inhabitants of their cities are his servants.
   • They told him to come.
   • They told him to deal with the cities and inhabitants as seems good to him.
5. 3:5
   • The men came to Holofernes.
   • The men declared these words to him.
6. 3:6
   • He came down toward the sea coast.
   • His army came down with him.
   • He set garrisons in the high cities.
   • He took chosen men out of those cities as auxiliaries.
7. 3:7
   • They received him with garlands.
   • They received him with dances.
   • They received him with timbrels.
   • All the country round about received him in the same way.
8. 3:8
   • He cast down their borders.
   • He cut down their sacred groves.
   • It had been decreed that he destroy all the gods of the land.
   • The purpose was that all nations should worship Nabuchodonosor alone.
   • The purpose was that all tongues and tribes should call upon Nabuchodonosor as a god.
9. 3:9
   • He came over against Esdraelon.
   • Esdraelon is near to Judea.
   • The place is over against the great strait of Judea.
10. 3:10
    • He pitched camp between Geba and Scythopolis.
    • He remained there a whole month.
    • His purpose was to gather together all the baggage of his army.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

3:1

"They" are the coastal peoples listed at the end of the previous chapter, from Sidon and Tyre down to Ascalon. To "treat of peace" in 1611 English meant to negotiate terms, not to discuss peace in the abstract; in practice an embassy like this one offered surrender before a siege began, hoping to be spared.

3:2

Nabuchodonosor is the Greek form of the name spelled Nebuchadnezzar elsewhere in the King James Bible. "We lie before thee" describes a physical posture: envoys prostrated themselves face down before a conqueror, and the words are a formal declaration that the speakers keep no rights of their own. "Servants" here translates a word that covers everything from hired staff to slaves, and in a surrender speech it means subjects who own nothing the king cannot take.

3:3

"The lodges of our tents" are sheepfolds, the walled or fenced pens where flocks were penned at night beside a herding family's encampment. The list of houses, land, grain, flocks and pens is a legal formula for total surrender: it names every category of property a community held, so that nothing is left unsurrendered.

3:4

Calling yourself someone's servant meant this: I will do whatever you say.

3:5

Holofernes was the general in charge of the king's whole army. The messengers had to bring their surrender to him.

3:6

A garrison is a body of troops left permanently in a captured town to hold it. The "high cities" are the hill fortresses, the towns built on high ground that controlled the roads below. Taking "chosen men for aid" means conscripting the best local fighters into his own army, a standard practice that both reinforced the invader and removed the men most able to lead a revolt.

3:7

Garlands, dancing and hand drums were the customary public welcome for a victorious king entering a town. The timbrel was a small hand drum with a skin stretched over a hoop, played chiefly by women; "tambourine" is the nearest modern word, though the ancient instrument did not always have jingles.

3:8

"Frontiers" here are boundary markers, the stones and shrines that marked the edge of each people's territory; tearing them down erased the old political map. The "groves" are stands of trees, or wooden poles standing in for them, planted at local sanctuaries as part of the worship there. Requiring that a living king be honored as a god was a feature of several ancient empires, though no surviving record of the historical Nebuchadnezzar shows him demanding it.

3:9

Esdraelon is the Greek name for the broad plain of Jezreel, the flat valley that cuts across northern Israel and carried the main road inland. The Greek manuscripts differ here: some read Dotaea, the district around the town of Dothan, and others read Judea, which is what the King James translators followed. "Strait" in 1611 English meant a narrow place, a pass or a ridge line, and not a channel of water.

3:10

Geba and Scythopolis mark the eastern end of the plain. Scythopolis is the Greek name for Beth-shan, an old fortress town guarding the descent to the Jordan valley. "Carriages" in 1611 English meant the things carried, that is the baggage train: tents, food, siege gear and plunder, along with the animals and carts hauling them. Waiting a month for the baggage to catch up is what an army did before moving into difficult hill country.