Judith, 3

1. So they sent ambassadors unto him to treat of peace, saying,

1. They therefore sent messengers to Holofernes offering him terms of peace:

2. Behold, we the servants of Nabuchodonosor the great king lie before thee; use us as shall be good in thy sight.

2. "See, we consider ourselves as servants of Nebuchadnezzar, the great king, do with us as you will.

3. Behold, our houses, and all our places, and all our fields of wheat, and flocks, and herds, and all the lodges of our tents lie before thy face; use them as it pleaseth thee.

3. All our farms, our whole territory, all our wheatfields, our oxen and our sheepfolds lie before you - use them as you please.

4. Behold, even our cities and the inhabitants thereof are thy servants; come and deal with them as seemeth good unto thee.

4. See, our towns and all their inhabitants are yours, deal with them as you wish."

5. So the men came to Holofernes, and declared unto him after this manner.

5. These men went to Holofernes and repeated these words.

6. Then came he down toward the sea coast, both he and his army, and set garrisons in the high cities, and took out of them chosen men for aid.

6. Then Holofernes moved down to the seacoast with his army. He stationed garrisons in the hill cities and took from them men whom he chose as auxiliaries.

7. So they and all the country round about received them with garlands, with dances, and with timbrels.

7. The people of these cities received him, as did all the people of the surrounding countryside, with garlands, singing and dancing to the music of tambourines.

8. Yet he did cast down their frontiers, and cut down their groves: for he had decreed to destroy all the gods of the land, that all nations should worship Nabuchodonosor only, and that all tongues and tribes should call upon him as god.

8. Nevertheless, he still laid waste all their land, cut down their sacred woods and destroyed all their gods, that all people of all languages and nations might worship Nebuchadnezzar alone and proclaim him as god.

9. Also he came over against Esdraelon near unto Judea, over against the great strait of Judea.

9. Then he arrived opposite Esdraelon, near Dothan, facing the great chain of Judean hills.

10. And he pitched between Geba and Scythopolis, and there he tarried a whole month, that he might gather together all the carriages of his army.

10. He encamped between Geba Scythopolis, and remained there a month in order to reorganize the provisions of his army.