Our cities also and their inhabitants are your slaves; come and deal with them in any way that seems good to you.”

And why have they alone, of all who live in the west, refused to come out and meet me?”

Achior’s Report

Then Ach′ior, the leader of all the Am′monites, said to him, “Let my lord now hear a word from the mouth of your servant, and I will tell you the truth about this people that dwells in the nearby mountain district. No falsehood shall come from your servant’s mouth.

For they had left the ways of their ancestors, and they worshiped the God of heaven, the God they had come to know; hence they drove them out from the presence of their gods; and they fled to Mesopota′mia, and lived there for a long time.

But now they have returned to their God, and have come back from the places to which they were scattered, and have occupied Jerusalem, where their sanctuary is, and have settled in the hill country, because it was uninhabited.

But if these days pass by, and no help comes for us, I will do what you say.”

“For thou hast done these things and those that went before and those that followed; thou hast designed the things that are now, and those that are to come. Yea, the things thou didst intend came to pass,

And now tell me why you have fled from them and have come over to us—since you have come to safety.

And I will come and tell you, and then you shall go out with your whole army, and not one of them will withstand you.

Then I will lead you through the middle of Judea, till you come to Jerusalem; and I will set your throne in the midst of it; and you will lead them like sheep that have no shepherd, and not a dog will so much as open its mouth to growl at you. For this has been told me, by my foreknowledge; it was announced to me, and I was sent to tell you.”

So Bago′as went out from the presence of Holofer′nes, and approached her and said, “This beautiful maidservant will please come to my lord and be honored in his presence, and drink wine and be merry with us, and become today like one of the daughters of the Assyrians who serve in the house of Nebuchadnez′zar.”

Now Judith had told her maid to stand outside the bedchamber and to wait for her to come out, as she did every day; for she said she would be going out for her prayers. And she had said the same thing to Bago′as.

And as soon as morning comes and the sun rises, let every valiant man take his weapons and go out of the city, and set a captain over them, as if you were going down to the plain against the Assyrian outpost; only do not go down.

Then they will seize their arms and go into the camp and rouse the officers of the Assyrian army; and they will rush into the tent of Holofer′nes, and will not find him. Then fear will come over them, and they will flee before you,

So they came to Holofer′nes’ tent and said to the steward in charge of all his personal affairs, “Wake up our lord, for the slaves have been so bold as to come down against us to give battle, in order to be destroyed completely.”