Add parallel Print Page Options

11 As for those who disobey, show them no mercy, but deliver them up to slaughter and plunder in all the land you occupy.(A) 12 For as I live,[a] and by the strength of my kingdom, what I have spoken I will accomplish by my own hand.(B) 13 Do not disobey a single one of the orders of your lord; fulfill them exactly as I have commanded you, and do it without delay.”

Campaigns of Holofernes.[b]

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 2:12 As I live: an oath proper to God; see the promissory oath of God the divine warrior in Dt 32:39–42; cf. Is 49:18; Jer 22:24; Ez 5:11. By my own hand: in his pride, Nebuchadnezzar claims to do this by his own hand (cf. Is 10:13). In contrast, Judith claims that God will deliver Israel “by my hand” (8:33; 12:4).
  2. 2:14–3:10 As Holofernes attacks the western nations, terror sweeps across the empire at large (2:28), then Judea (4:1–2), and finally Bethulia (7:1). In these verses, the line of advance is from Nineveh to Damascus and all who submit are nonetheless devastated and forced to worship Nebuchadnezzar.