Judith 4:1
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
II. Siege of Bethulia[a]
Chapter 4
Israel Prepares for War.[b] 1 When the Israelites who lived in Judea heard of all that Holofernes, the ranking general of Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians, had done to the nations, and how he had looted all their shrines[c] and utterly destroyed them,
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 4:1–7:32 In this section the focus narrows to Judea and specifically the little town of Bethulia. The scenes alternate between the Assyrian camp (5:1–6:13; 7:1–3, 6–18) and Judea/Bethulia (4:1–15; 6:14–21; 7:4–5, 19–32).
- 4:1–15 Here the scene shifts to Judea where Israel hears and is greatly terrified about Holofernes’ destruction of the neighboring places of worship. At Joakim’s instruction they take defensive measures and then pray fervently that God will not allow their sanctuary to be destroyed.
- 4:1 Shrines: the Greek word hiera is used only here and may mean holy places or things. By contrast, the sanctuary in Jerusalem is naos, “temple” (v. 2); oikos, “house” (v. 3); and hagia, lit., “holy things” (v. 12).
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.