Judith 4-7

New Catholic Bible

Campaign against Bethulia

The Israelites Prepare To Resist^[a]

Chapter 4

Defensive Preparations. ¹ When the Israelites living in Judea heard of everything that Holofernes, the commander-in-chief of King Nebuchadnezzar, had done to the nations, and how he had pillaged and destroyed all their temples, ² they were filled with unspeakable dread at his approach and greatly concerned over the fate of Jerusalem and of the temple of the Lord, their God. ³ For they had just returned from exile a short time before, and only recently had the people of Judea been gathered together, with the sacred vessels, the altar, and the temple reconsecrated after their profanation.^{[b] 4} Therefore, they notified the entire region of Samaria, Kona, Beth-horon, Belmain, and Jericho, Choba and Aesora, and the Valley of Salem. ⁵ The people of those areas established outposts on the summits of the high mountains, fortified their villages, and stored up food supplies from the recently harvested fields in preparation for war.

⁶ Joakim, the high priest in Jerusalem at that time, wrote to the inhabitants of Bethulia and Betomesthaim, which is opposite Esdraelon, facing the plain near Dothan, ⁷ ordering them to occupy the mountain passes, since they were the only means of access to Judea. Since the narrow approach would not allow more than two men to advance abreast of each other, there would be no difficulty in preventing the advance of the attacking forces. ⁸ The Israelites carried out the orders issued by Joakim, the high priest, and by the senate^[c] of the whole people of Israel in session at Jerusalem.

Prayer and Penance. ⁹ At the same time, all the men of Israel cried out to God with great fervor, humbling themselves before him and fasting. ¹⁰ They, together with their wives and children, their livestock, and every resident alien, hired laborer, and slave, wrapped themselves in sackcloth. ¹¹ And all the Israelite men, women, and children living in Jerusalem prostrated themselves in front of the temple, and with ashes on their heads they spread out their sackcloth before the Lord. ¹² They even draped the altar in sackcloth, and with one voice they prayed fervently, imploring the God of Israel not to allow their children to be carried off and their wives to be taken captive, the towns they had inherited to be destroyed, and their temple to be profaned and desecrated for the heathens to gloat over.

¹³ The Lord heard their prayers and looked kindly on them in their distress. For the people fasted for many days throughout Judea and before the temple of the Lord Almighty in Jerusalem. ¹⁴ Joakim the high priest and all the priests stood in the presence of the Lord and ministered to him. They wore sackcloth around their loins as they offered the daily burnt offerings, the votive offerings, and the freewill offerings of the people. ¹⁵ With ashes on their turbans they cried out to the Lord with all their power, imploring him to look with favor on the whole house of Israel.

A Council of War

Chapter 5

What People Is This? ¹ Holofernes, the commander-in-chief of the Assyrian army, received the intelligence report that the Israelites had prepared for war, blockading the mountain passes, fortifying all the high peaks, and establishing barricades in the plains. ² Filled with rage, he summoned all the princes of the Moabites, the generals of the Ammonites, and the governors of the coastal regions.^{[d] 3} “Tell me, you Canaanites,” he demanded, “what people is this that dwells in the hill country? What towns do they inhabit? How large is their army? Whence do they derive their power and strength? Who rules as their king and leads their army? ⁴ Why have they alone, of all the peoples of the west, refused to come and meet with me?”

Discourse of Achior, the Good Pagan. ⁵ Then Achior,^[e] the leader of all the Ammonites, said to him, “My lord, if it pleases you to allow your servant to speak, I shall provide you with the true facts about this people that lives nearby in the mountain district. Nothing that is untrue shall be spoken by the lips of your servant.

^6 [f]“This people is composed of descendants from the Chaldeans. ⁷ At one time they settled in Mesopotamia because they refused to follow the gods of their ancestors who lived in Chaldea. ⁸ Since they had abandoned the ways of their ancestors and worshiped the God of heaven, the God they had come to know, they were banished from the presence of the gods of their forefathers. As a result, they fled to Mesopotamia, where they dwelt for a long time. ⁹ But their God commanded them to depart from the place where they were living and to migrate to Canaan.

“They settled there and acquired great wealth in gold and silver and vast herds of livestock. ¹⁰ Later, when a severe famine afflicted the land of Canaan, they went down to Egypt, where they remained as long as food was available in abundance for them. There they grew into so great a multitude that their numbers could not be counted. ¹¹ So the king of Egypt turned against them and exploited them by forcing them to labor at brickmaking and reducing them to slavery. ¹² They besought their God, and he afflicted the whole land of Egypt with incurable plagues.

“When the Egyptians expelled them, ¹³ their God dried up the Red Sea before them ¹⁴ and guided them along the route to Sinai and Kadesh-barnea. They drove out all the inhabitants of the desert, ¹⁵ settling in the land of the Amorites, and by their power they exterminated the entire population of Heshbon. Then they crossed over the Jordan and took possession of the whole hill country. ¹⁶ They drove out before them the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Shechemites, and all the Gergesites, and they dwelt in the mountains for a long time.

¹⁷ “As long as they did not sin before their God, they enjoyed prosperity, for their God who loathes wickedness was with them. ¹⁸ However, whenever they strayed from the path he had prescribed for them, they suffered tremendous losses in many battles and were led away as captives to foreign countries. The temple of their God was razed to the ground, and their towns were occupied by their enemies. ¹⁹ But now that they have returned to their God, they have come back from the lands where they had been scattered, have again taken possession of Jerusalem where their temple is located, and have settled in the mountain region that was uninhabited.

²⁰ “So now, my lord and master, if this people has committed the fault of sinning against their God, and if we can ascertain the accuracy of this report, then we can go up and conquer them. ²¹ But if they are a nation that is guiltless, then, my lord, it would be better for you to leave them alone, for their Lord and God will protect them, and we will then become the laughingstock of the whole world.”

²² Reaction of the Pagans. When Achior had finished with his recommendations, all the people crowding around the tent began to murmur. The officers of Holofernes and all the inhabitants of the seacoast and of Moab demanded that he be cut to bits. ²³ “We are not afraid of the Israelites,” they said. “They are a powerless people who are incapable of withstanding a strong attack. ²⁴ Therefore, let us move forward, Lord Holofernes. Your great army will swallow them up.”

Chapter 6

Holofernes’s Answer. ¹ When the uproar of the crowd surrounding the council had subsided, Holofernes, the commander-in-chief of the Assyrian army, said to Achior in the presence of the whole contingent of the coastland peoples, of the Moabites, and of the Ammonite mercenaries: ² “Who do you think you are, Achior, you and your Ephraimite mercenaries, to prophesy among us as you have done today and to attempt to convince us not to make war against the people of Israel because their God will protect them? What god is there besides Nebuchadnezzar? He will send his forces and wipe them off the face of the earth. Their God will not save them.

³ “We, the servants of Nebuchadnezzar, will destroy them as easily as if they were one man. They will not be able to withstand the strength of our cavalry. ⁴ We will tread them underfoot, their mountains will be drunk with their blood, and their plains will be filled with their corpses. They cannot possibly withstand us and will perish without a trace. Thus says King Nebuchadnezzar, lord of all the earth. He has spoken, and none of his words will prove to be unfulfilled.

⁵ “As for you, Achior, you Ammonite mercenary, you have said these things in a moment of perversity. Therefore, you will not see my face again from this day until I have taken revenge on this brood of fugitives from Egypt. ⁶ Then when I return, the sword of my army or the spear of my servants will pierce your sides, and you will fall among the wounded. ⁷ My servants will now take you back into the hill country and leave you at one of the towns along the mountain passes. ⁸ You will not die until you perish together with them. ⁹ If you are truly confident that they will not fall into our hands, then there is no need for you to look so downcast. However, I have spoken, and none of my words will prove false in any respect.”

¹⁰ Achior in Bethulia. Then Holofernes ordered his servants who were standing by in his tent to seize Achior, transport him to Bethulia, and leave him for the Israelites. ¹¹ And so the servants took him into custody and escorted him out of the camp into the plain, and from there into the hill country, until they arrived at the springs below Bethulia. ¹² As soon as the men of the town saw them, they took up their weapons and ran out of the town to the top of the hill, and all the slingers prevented them from ascending by hurling stones on them. ¹³ Therefore, taking shelter below the hill, they bound Achior and left him lying at the foot of the hill. Then they returned to their master.

¹⁴ When the Israelites came down from their town and found him, they untied him and led him into Bethulia. They brought him before the magistrates of the town, ¹⁵ who at that time were Uzziah, son of Micah of the tribe of Simeon, Chabris, son of Gothoniel, and Charmis, son of Melchiel. ¹⁶ Then they summoned all the elders of the town, and all the young men and women also hurried to the assembly. They had Achior stand in the midst of all the people, and Uzziah interrogated him about what had happened. ¹⁷ In reply he told them what had taken place at the council of Holofernes, what he himself had said in the presence of the Assyrian leaders, and all that Holofernes had boasted he would do to the house of Israel.

¹⁸ On hearing this, the people fell prostrate in worship of God and cried out, ¹⁹ “O Lord, God of heaven, behold their arrogance. Have pity on our people in their humiliation, and look kindly this day on those who are consecrated^[g] to you.” ²⁰ Then they reassured Achior and praised him warmly. ²¹ Uzziah brought him from the assembly to his home, where he gave a banquet for the elders. All that night they called upon the God of Israel for assistance.

Siege of Bethulia

Chapter 7

Holofernes’s Maneuvers To Blockade Bethulia. ¹ The following day Holofernes issued orders to his whole army and all the allies who had joined him to initiate action against Bethulia, seize the passes up into the hill country, and engage the Israelites in battle. ² That same day their troops went into action, an army numbering one hundred and seventy thousand infantry and twelve thousand cavalry, not to mention the baggage train and the foot soldiers charged with its maintenance—an immense multitude. ³ They encamped in the valley near Bethulia close to the spring, and they spread out in breadth toward Dothan as far as Balbaim, and in length from Bethulia to Cyamon, which faces Esdraelon.

⁴ When the Israelites caught sight of this vast force, they were greatly terrified. “These men will now devour the whole country,” they said to one another. “Neither the high mountains nor the valleys nor the hills will ever be able to support their weight.” ⁵ Even so, they all took up their weapons, lit fires on their towers, and remained on guard throughout the night.

⁶ On the second day Holofernes led out all his cavalry in full view of the Israelites in Bethulia. ⁷ He reconnoitered the approaches to the town and located the springs that were the source of their water supply. He seized these and stationed detachments of soldiers to guard them before he returned to his main force.

⁸ All the chieftains of the Edomites and all the leaders of the Moabites, together with the commanders of the coastal region, jointly approached him. ⁹ “Please listen to our suggestion, my lord,” they said, “and your army will not sustain a single loss. ¹⁰ These Israelites do not rely on their spears but on the height of the mountains where they dwell, for it is extremely difficult to reach the peaks of the mountains. ¹¹ Therefore, my lord, do not employ a regular formation to attack them, and in this way not a single one of your troops will be lost.

¹² “Remain in your camp, and keep all your troops there with you. Station some of your soldiers to maintain control of the spring flowing from the base of the mountain, ¹³ since that is where all the people of Bethulia obtain their water. When they start dying of thirst, they will surrender their town. Meanwhile, we and our troops will ascend to the summits of the nearby mountains and set up camp there to ensure that not a single person will escape from that town. ¹⁴ They and their wives and children will waste away with hunger, and even before the sword strikes them their corpses will be strewn in the streets of their town. ¹⁵ In this way you will make them pay dearly for their defiance and their refusal to receive you peacefully.”

¹⁶ Their words pleased Holofernes and all his attendants, and he gave orders for their proposal to be carried out. ¹⁷ Accordingly, the army of the Moabites moved forward, together with five thousand Assyrians. They encamped in the valley and seized the water supply and the springs of the Israelites. ¹⁸ The Edomites and the Ammonites went up and encamped in the hill country opposite Dothan, and they sent some of their forces to the southeast opposite Egrebel, near Chusi, beside the Wadi Mochmur. The remainder of the Assyrian army took up positions in the plain; they filled the entire countryside, forming an immense encampment with the great multitude of their tents and supply trains.

¹⁹ The Israelites under Siege. The Israelites cried out to the Lord, their God, greatly disheartened at the realization that their enemies had surrounded them and cut off every avenue of retreat. ²⁰ For thirty-four days the entire Assyrian army, with infantry, chariots, and cavalry, kept them surrounded, until all the water jars possessed by the inhabitants of Bethulia were empty. ²¹ Their cisterns were also running dry, so that there was no day on which they had enough to drink, and their drinking water began to be rationed. ²² Their children fainted away, and the women and young men grew weak with thirst. They collapsed in the streets and the gateways of the town, for they had no strength left.

²³ Then all the people, including the young men, women, and children, gathered around Uzziah and the rulers of the town. They raised a great clamor of protest and said in the presence of all the elders: ²⁴ “May God judge between you and us. You have perpetrated a grave injustice on us by refusing to sue for terms of peace with the Assyrians. ²⁵ Now we have no one to help us. God has delivered us into their power, and they will find us lying prostrate before them from thirst and exhaustion. ²⁶ Therefore, surrender to them even now. Deliver the entire town as booty to the army of Holofernes and to all his forces. ²⁷ For it would be preferable for us to be conquered by them. Even though we would become their slaves, at least we would be alive and not have to witness our little ones dying before our eyes, and our wives and children gasping their last breath. ²⁸ By heaven and earth, and by our God, the Lord of our ancestors, who is punishing us for our own sins and those of our ancestors, we adjure you to do this very day what we have proposed.”

²⁹ The entire assembly then wailed bitter lamentations and called on the Lord God with loud cries. ³⁰ In response, Uzziah said to them: “Have courage, my people! Let us continue to hold out for five more days. By that time the Lord, our God will show his mercy toward us. He will not abandon us completely. ³¹ At the end of that period, if no help has reached us, I will do as you say.”^{[h] 32} Then he dismissed the men to their posts, and they returned to the walls and towers of their town. The women and children were sent to their homes. Throughout the town there was a sense of impending doom.