Judith 6

When the noise of the men standing around the council had died down, Holofernes, the commander of the army of Assur, spoke to Achior and to all the Moabites, in front of all the people of the other nations.

1And when the tumult of men that were about the council was ceased, Holofernes the chief captain of the army of Assur said unto Achior and all the Moabites before all the company of other nations,

Note"Assur" is the Greek spelling of Asshur, that is, Assyria. Holofernes is not a ship's captain but the commander in chief of the whole army, the king's second in command on campaign. The Moabites and the "other nations" are contingents from subject peoples marching with the Assyrian force; Achior, who spoke in the previous chapter, leads the Ammonites, a people settled east of the Jordan.

2"And who are you, Achior, along with the hired soldiers of Ephraim, that you should prophesy among us as you did today, and say we should not go to war against the people of Israel, because their God will defend them? Who is God but Nabuchodonosor?

2And who art thou, Achior, and the hirelings of Ephraim, that thou hast prophesied against us as to day, and hast said, that we should not make war with the people of Israel, because their God will defend them? and who is God but Nabuchodonosor?

Note"Hirelings" are soldiers who fight for pay rather than for their own land, and Holofernes uses the word as an insult, as though Achior were bought by Israel. Ephraim was the largest tribe of the northern kingdom, and its name was commonly used for Israel as a whole. "As to day" is old English for "as you have done today." Nabuchodonosor is the Greek form of the name Nebuchadnezzar; in this book he rules Assyria from Nineveh, which does not match the Nebuchadnezzar known from history, who was king of Babylon.

3He will send out his power and wipe them off the face of the earth, and their God will not rescue them. We, his servants, will strike them down as one man. They cannot stand up to the power of our horses.

3He will send his power, and will destroy them from the face of the earth, and their God shall not deliver them: but we his servants will destroy them as one man; for they are not able to sustain the power of our horses.

Note"As one man" carries both senses at once: the army will strike in a single united blow, and it will dispose of the whole nation as easily as it would kill one person. "The power of our horses" means the cavalry, the most feared arm of an ancient field army and the one least useful in steep hill country, which is the point the story will turn on.

4With them we will burn these people up. Their mountains will be soaked with their blood, and their plains will be filled with their dead bodies. Not one of their footsteps will hold its ground before us; they will be completely destroyed. So says King Nabuchodonosor, lord of all the earth, for he said, 'Not one of my words will come to nothing.'

4For with them we will tread them under foot, and their mountains shall be drunken with their blood, and their fields shall be filled with their dead bodies, and their footsteps shall not be able to stand before us, for they shall utterly perish, saith king Nabuchodonosor, lord of all the earth: for he said, None of my words shall be in vain.

Note"With them" means with the horses just mentioned. Here the King James and the plain rendering differ because the Greek manuscripts do: the King James has the horses trample Israel underfoot, while the Greek text behind most modern versions has the army burn them up. Mountains drunk with blood and fields full of corpses are stock images of total slaughter. "Their footsteps shall not be able to stand" means they will not be able to hold their ground.

5And you, Achior, hired soldier of Ammon, who spoke these words on the day of your wrongdoing, will not see my face again from this day on, until I take my revenge on this nation that came out of Egypt.

5And thou, Achior, an hireling of Ammon, which hast spoken these words in the day of thine iniquity, shalt see my face no more from this day, until I take vengeance of this nation that came out of Egypt.

NoteAmmon is the Ammonite people, whom Achior commands; by calling him a hired man Holofernes denies that he speaks for anyone at all. "The day of thine iniquity" means the day you did wrong, that is, today. "This nation that came out of Egypt" is Israel, and points back to the history of the exodus that Achior had just recited.

6Then the sword of my army, and the crowd of those who serve me, will run through your sides, and you will fall among their dead when I come back.

6And then shall the sword of mine army, and the multitude of them that serve me, pass through thy sides, and thou shalt fall among their slain, when I return.

Note"Pass through thy sides" means run you through the ribs. Holofernes is promising Achior that he will die in the massacre of the people he defended.

7So now my servants will take you back into the hill country and put you in one of the towns by the mountain passes.

7Now therefore my servants shall bring thee back into the hill country, and shall set thee in one of the cities of the passages:

Note"The cities of the passages" are the towns that guard the passes through the hills, the fortified places an invading army has to take before it can move inland.

8And you will not die until you are destroyed together with them.

8And thou shalt not perish, till thou be destroyed with them.

NoteThe line is a sneer, not a reprieve: you will be kept alive only long enough to be killed along with them.

9And if you convince yourself that they will not be captured, do not let your face fall. I have said it, and none of my words will fail."

9And if thou persuade thyself in thy mind that they shall be taken, let not thy countenance fall: I have spoken it, and none of my words shall be in vain.

Note"Let not thy countenance fall" uses an old idiom in which a face falling means visible dismay; the taunt is roughly "don't look so glum." The King James here lacks a negative found in the Greek, which reads "if you hope in your heart that they will not be taken"; the plain rendering follows the Greek. "None of my words shall be in vain" is the language of a royal decree, a boast that the king's word always takes effect.

10Then Holofernes ordered the servants who waited on him in his tent to take Achior, bring him to Bethulia, and hand him over to the people of Israel.

10Then Holofernes commanded his servants, that waited in his tent, to take Achior, and bring him to Bethulia, and deliver him into the hands of the children of Israel.

NoteBethulia is the hill town that blocks the route toward Jerusalem and is the setting for the rest of the book. The name appears nowhere outside Judith and no site has ever been securely identified with it.

11So his servants took him and brought him out of the camp into the plain, and from the middle of the plain they went up into the hill country and came to the springs below Bethulia.

11So his servants took him, and brought him out of the camp into the plain, and they went from the midst of the plain into the hill country, and came unto the fountains that were under Bethulia.

Note"The fountains" are natural springs. They lie outside and below the walls, which is normal for a hill town and also its weak point, since a besieger who seizes the springs controls the water supply.

12When the men of the city saw them, they picked up their weapons and went out of the city to the top of the hill. Every man who used a sling kept them from climbing up by throwing stones at them.

12And when the men of the city saw them, they took up their weapons, and went out of the city to the top of the hill: and every man that used a sling kept them from coming up by casting of stones against them.

NoteA sling is a leather strap loaded with a stone and whirled before release. It was the standard long range weapon of hill country militia, cheap, silent, and deadly at a distance that kept attackers off the slope.

13Even so, they got in under the hill without being seen, and they tied Achior up, threw him down, and left him at the foot of the hill, and went back to their lord.

13Nevertheless having gotten privily under the hill, they bound Achior, and cast him down, and left him at the foot of the hill, and returned to their lord.

Note"Privily" means secretly. The Assyrians worked their way close in against the base of the slope, where the defenders on the crest could not reach them with stones, dumped Achior there, and withdrew.

14But the Israelites came down from their city and went to him. They untied him, brought him into Bethulia, and presented him to the rulers of the city,

14But the Israelites descended from their city, and came unto him, and loosed him, and brought him to Bethulia, and presented him to the governors of the city:

15who in those days were Ozias son of Micha, from the tribe of Simeon, and Chabris son of Gothoniel, and Charmis son of Melchiel.

15Which were in those days Ozias the son of Micha, of the tribe of Simeon, and Chabris the son of Gothoniel, and Charmis the son of Melchiel.

NoteBethulia is governed by three men jointly rather than by a single ruler. Naming a man by his father and his tribe was the ordinary way of identifying someone precisely. Simeon was one of the twelve tribes descended from the sons of Jacob.

16They called together all the elders of the city, and all their young men came running to the assembly, and their women too. They set Achior in the middle of all their people. Then Ozias asked him what had happened.

16And they called together all the ancients of the city, and all their youth ran together, and their women, to the assembly, and they set Achior in the midst of all their people. Then Ozias asked him of that which was done.

NoteIn the King James, "ancients" does not mean people of long ago; it means elders, the senior men who governed a town and settled its disputes. The detail that the young men and the women ran to the assembly marks this as an emergency gathering of the whole population, not the usual meeting of elders alone.

17He answered and told them what had been said at the council of Holofernes, and everything Holofernes had said in front of the princes of Assur, and all the proud words he had spoken against the house of Israel.

17And he answered and declared unto them the words of the council of Holofernes, and all the words that he had spoken in the midst of the princes of Assur, and whatsoever Holofernes had spoken proudly against the house of Israel.

Note"Princes" in the King James usually means chief men or high officers generally, not sons of a king; here it is Holofernes' senior commanders. "Spoken proudly" translates a phrase meaning great or swollen words, that is, arrogant boasting.

18Then the people fell down and worshiped God, and they cried out to God, saying,

18Then the people fell down and worshipped God, and cried unto God. saying,

NoteFalling down here means prostration, going face to the ground, the posture used before a king and in urgent prayer.

19"O Lord God of heaven, look at their pride, and pity how low our nation has been brought. Look on the faces of those who are set apart for you this day."

19O Lord God of heaven, behold their pride, and pity the low estate of our nation, and look upon the face of those that are sanctified unto thee this day.

Note"Low estate" means a humbled, brought down condition. To "look upon the face of" someone is to turn attention toward them with favor. "Sanctified unto thee" means set apart as belonging to God; the phrase is used of the people themselves, not only of priests.

20Then they comforted Achior and praised him greatly.

20Then they comforted Achior, and praised him greatly.

21And Ozias took him out of the assembly to his own house, and made a feast for the elders. All that night they called on the God of Israel for help.

21And Ozias took him out of the assembly unto his house, and made a feast to the elders; and they called on the God of Israel all that night for help.

NoteTaking Achior into his own house and giving a feast makes him a protected guest, which publicly reverses the humiliation of being dumped bound at the foot of the hill. Calling on God through the whole night is an act of formal, sustained public petition in a crisis.