Deuterocanonical Books of the Bible Part 65

Jdt 5:3 And he said unto them, Tell me now, ye sons of Chanaan, who this people is, that dwelleth in the hill country, and what are the cities that they inhabit, and what is the mult.i.tude of their army, and wherein is their power and strength, and what king is set over them, or captain of their army;

Jdt 5:4 And why have they determined not to come and meet me, more than all the inhabitants of the west.

Jdt 5:5 Then said Achior, the captain of all the sons of Ammon, Let my lord now hear a word from the mouth of thy servant, and I will declare unto thee the truth concerning this people, which dwelleth near thee, and inhabiteth the hill countries: and there shall no lie come out of the mouth of thy servant.

Jdt 5:6 This people are descended of the Chaldeans:

Jdt 5:7 And they sojourned heretofore in Mesopotamia, because they would not follow the G.o.ds of their fathers, which were in the land of Chaldea.

Jdt 5:8 For they left the way of their ancestors, and wors.h.i.+pped the G.o.d of heaven, the G.o.d whom they knew: so they cast them out from the face of their G.o.ds, and they fled into Mesopotamia, and sojourned there many days.

Jdt 5:9 Then their G.o.d commanded them to depart from the place where they sojourned, and to go into the land of Chanaan: where they dwelt, and were increased with gold and silver, and with very much cattle.

Jdt 5:10 But when a famine covered all the land of Chanaan, they went down into Egypt, and sojourned there, while they were nourished, and became there a great mult.i.tude, so that one could not number their nation.

Jdt 5:11 Therefore the king of Egypt rose up against them, and dealt subtilly with them, and brought them low with labouring in brick, and made them slaves.

Jdt 5:12 Then they cried unto their G.o.d, and he smote all the land of Egypt with incurable plagues: so the Egyptians cast them out of their sight.

Jdt 5:13 And G.o.d dried the Red sea before them,

Jdt 5:14 And brought them to mount Sina, and Cades-Barne, and cast forth all that dwelt in the wilderness.

Jdt 5:15 So they dwelt in the land of the Amorites, and they destroyed by their strength all them of Esebon, and pa.s.sing over Jordan they possessed all the hill country.

Jdt 5:16 And they cast forth before them the Chanaanite, the Pherezite, the Jebusite, and the Sychemite, and all the Gergesites, and they dwelt in that country many days.

Jdt 5:17 And whilst they sinned not before their G.o.d, they prospered, because the G.o.d that hateth iniquity was with them.

Jdt 5:18 But when they departed from the way which he appointed them, they were destroyed in many battles very sore, and were led captives into a land that was not their's, and the temple of their G.o.d was cast to the ground, and their cities were taken by the enemies.

Jdt 5:19 But now are they returned to their G.o.d, and are come up from the places where they were scattered, and have possessed Jerusalem, where their sanctuary is, and are seated in the hill country; for it was desolate.

Jdt 5:20 Now therefore, my lord and governor, if there be any error against this people, and they sin against their G.o.d, let us consider that this shall be their ruin, and let us go up, and we shall overcome them.

Jdt 5:21 But if there be no iniquity in their nation, let my lord now pa.s.s by, lest their Lord defend them, and their G.o.d be for them, and we become a reproach before all the world.

Jdt 5:22 And when Achior had finished these sayings, all the people standing round about the tent murmured, and the chief men of Holofernes, and all that dwelt by the sea side, and in Moab, spake that he should kill him.

Jdt 5:23 For, say they, we will not be afraid of the face of the children of Israel: for, lo, it is a people that have no strength nor power for a strong battle

Jdt 5:24 Now therefore, lord Holofernes, we will go up, and they shall be a prey to be devoured of all thine army.

Jdt 6:1 And when the tumult of men that were about the council was ceased, Holofernes the chief captain of the army of a.s.sur said unto Achior and all the Moabites before all the company of other nations,

Jdt 6:2 And 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 G.o.d will defend them? and who is G.o.d but Nabuchodonosor?

Jdt 6:3 He will send his power, and will destroy them from the face of the earth, and their G.o.d 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.

Jdt 6:4 For 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.

Jdt 6:5 And 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.

Jdt 6:6 And then shall the sword of mine army, and the mult.i.tude of them that serve me, pa.s.s through thy sides, and thou shalt fall among their slain, when I return.

Jdt 6:7 Now therefore my servants shall bring thee back into the hill country, and shall set thee in one of the cities of the pa.s.sages:

Jdt 6:8 And thou shalt not perish, till thou be destroyed with them.

Jdt 6:9 And 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.

Jdt 6:10 Then 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.

Jdt 6:11 So 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.

Jdt 6:12 And 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.

Jdt 6:13 Nevertheless 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.

Jdt 6:14 But 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:

Jdt 6:15 Which 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.

Jdt 6:16 And they called together all the ancients of the city, and all their youth ran together, and their women, to the a.s.sembly, and they set Achior in the midst of all their people. Then Ozias asked him of that which was done.

Jdt 6:17 And 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 a.s.sur, and whatsoever Holofernes had spoken proudly against the house of Israel.

Jdt 6:18 Then the people fell down and wors.h.i.+pped G.o.d, and cried unto G.o.d, saying,

Jdt 6:19 O Lord G.o.d 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.

Jdt 6:20 Then they comforted Achior, and praised him greatly.

Jdt 6:21 And Ozias took him out of the a.s.sembly unto his house, and made a feast to the elders; and they called on the G.o.d of Israel all that night for help.

Jdt 7:1 The next day Holofernes commanded all his army, and all his people which were come to take his part, that they should remove their camp against Bethulia, to take aforehand the ascents of the hill country, and to make war against the children of Israel.

Jdt 7:2 Then their strong men removed their camps in that day, and the army of the men of war was an hundred and seventy thousand footmen, and twelve thousand hors.e.m.e.n, beside the baggage, and other men that were afoot among them, a very great mult.i.tude.

Jdt 7:3 And they camped in the valley near unto Bethulia, by the fountain, and they spread themselves in breadth over Dothaim even to Belmaim, and in length from Bethulia unto Cynamon, which is over against Esdraelon.

Jdt 7:4 Now the children of Israel, when they saw the mult.i.tude of them, were greatly troubled, and said every one to his neighbour, Now will these men lick up the face of the earth; for neither the high mountains, nor the valleys, nor the hills, are able to bear their weight.

Jdt 7:5 Then every man took up his weapons of war, and when they had kindled fires upon their towers, they remained and watched all that night.

Jdt 7:6 But in the second day Holofernes brought forth all his hors.e.m.e.n in the sight of the children of Israel which were in Bethulia,

Jdt 7:7 And viewed the pa.s.sages up to the city, and came to the fountains of their waters, and took them, and set garrisons of men of war over them, and he himself removed toward his people.