1 In the eighteenth year, on the twenty-second day of the first month, there was talk in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians about carrying out his revenge on the whole region, just as he said.
2 He called together all his officers and all his nobles and set forth to them his secret plan and recounted fully, with his own lips, all the wickedness of the region;
3 and it was decided that every one who had not obeyed his command should be destroyed.
4 When he had finished setting forth his plan, Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians called Holofernes, the chief general of his army, second only to himself, and said to him,
5 "Thus says the Great King, the lord of the whole earth: When you leave my presence, take with you men confident in their strength, to the number of one hundred and twenty thousand foot soldiers and twelve thousand cavalry.
6 Go and attack the whole west country, because they disobeyed my orders.
7 Tell them to prepare earth and water, for I am coming against them in my anger, and will cover the whole face of the earth with the feet of my armies, and will hand them over to be plundered by my troops,
8 till their wounded shall fill their valleys, and every brook and river shall be filled with their dead, and overflow;
9 and I will lead them away captive to the ends of the whole earth.
10 You shall go and seize all their territory for me in advance. They will yield themselves to you, and you shall hold them for me till the day of their punishment.
11 But if they refuse, your eye shall not spare and you shall hand them over to slaughter and plunder throughout your whole region.
12 For as I live, and by the power of my kingdom, what I have spoken my hand will execute.
13 And you -- take care not to transgress any of your sovereign's commands, but be sure to carry them out just as I have ordered you; and do not delay about it."
14 So Holofernes left the presence of his master, and called together all the commanders, generals, and officers of the Assyrian army,
15 and mustered the picked troops by divisions as his lord had ordered him to do, one hundred and twenty thousand of them, together with twelve thousand archers on horseback,
16 and he organized them as a great army is marshaled for a campaign.
17 He collected a vast number of camels and asses and mules for transport, and innumerable sheep and oxen and goats for provision;
18 also plenty of food for every man, and a huge amount of gold and silver from the royal palace.
19 So he set out with his whole army, to go ahead of King Nebuchadnezzar and to cover the whole face of the earth to the west with their chariots and horsemen and picked troops of infantry.
20 Along with them went a mixed crowd like a swarm of locusts, like the dust of the earth -- a multitude that could not be counted.
21 They marched for three days from Nineveh to the plain of Bectileth, and camped opposite Bectileth near the mountain which is to the north of Upper Cilicia.
22 From there Holofernes took his whole army, his infantry, cavalry, and chariots, and went up into the hill country
23 and ravaged Put and Lud, and plundered all the people of Rassis and the Ishmaelites who lived along the desert, south of the country of the Chelleans.
24 Then he followed the Euphrates and passed through Mesopotamia and destroyed all the hilltop cities along the brook Abron, as far as the sea.
25 He also seized the territory of Cilicia, and killed every one who resisted him, and came to the southern borders of Japheth, fronting toward Arabia.
26 He surrounded all the Midianites, and burned their tents and plundered their sheepfolds.
27 Then he went down into the plain of Damascus during the wheat harvest, and burned all their fields and destroyed their flocks and herds and sacked their cities and ravaged their lands and put to death all their young men with the edge of the sword.
28 So fear and terror of him fell upon all the people who lived along the seacoast, at Sidon and Tyre, and those who lived in Sur and Ocina and all who lived in Jamnia. Those who lived in Azotus and Ascalon feared him exceedingly.
Versículos relacionados com Judith, 2:
Judith chapter 2 continues the Assyrian invasion narrative and shows how General Holofernes is chosen to lead the campaign against the west nations, including Israel. He is presented as a powerful and cruel man who believes that no God can oppose him. Here are five verses related to the topics covered in Judite 2:
Isaiah 10:7: "But this is not how he thought, nor was it how his heart imagined him, because his purpose was to destroy, and to break down no few nations." This verse talks about the arrogance of the king of Assyria and how he intended to destroy many nations, including Israel.
Isaiah 10:13-14: "For he says, With the strength of my hand I did and with my wisdom, because I am prudent; and removed the boundaries of the peoples, and I stole the things that were deposited, and as a brave slaughter To those who sat upon them. And I found my hand the riches of the peoples like a nest; and, as the abandoned eggs are gathered, so I gathered me to all the earth; and there was no one who moved the wing, or mouth, or pias. " This verse describes how the king of Assyria boast of his own strength and wisdom, stealing the riches of the peoples and annihilating those who opposed him.
Job 12:13: "With God is wisdom and strength; This verse talks about how true wisdom and force belong to God, not arrogant men like the king of Assyria.
Isaiah 14:12-15: "As you have fallen from the sky, O Morning Star, daughter of the Alva! How you were cut by earth, you who weakened the nations! And you said in your heart: I will climb to heaven, above the stars From God I will exalt my throne, and on the hill of the congregation I will sit on the sides of the north. I will climb upon the heights of the clouds, and be similar to the Most High. " This verse talks about the fall of Lucifer, which is also known as Satan, who was arrogant and tried to rise above God.
Proverbs 16:18: "Superb precedes ruin, and the haughtiness of the Spirit precedes the fall." This verse talks about how pride and arrogance always lead to fall and ruin. This is especially true for the king of Assyria in Judith 2, who is so arrogant that he believes that no God can oppose him.
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