OET-RV JDT Chapter 5

5 Holofernes, the chief captain of Ashur’s (Assyria’s) army, was told that the Israeli people had prepared for war, had shut up the passages of the hill country, had fortified all the tops of the high hills, and had set up barricades in the plains. 2 Then he was extremely angry, and he called all the princes of Moav (Moab), Amon’s captains, and all the governors of the sea coast, 3 and he said to them, “Tell me now, you sons of Kena’an (Canaan), who are these people who live in the hill country? What are the cities that they inhabit? How large is their army? Where is their power and their strength? What king is set over them, to be the leader of their army? 4 Why have they turned their backs, that they shouldn’t come and meet me, more than all who live in the west?”

5 Then Ahior, the leader of all the children of Amon, said to him, “Let my lord now hear a word from your servant’s mouth, and I’ll tell you the truth about these people who live in this hill country, near to the place where you live. No lie will come out of your servant’s mouth. 6 These people are descended from the Kasdim (Chaldeans). 7 They sojourned before this in Mesopotamia, because they didn’t want to follow the gods of their fathers, which were in the land of the Kasdim. 8 They departed from the way of their parents, and worshipped the god of heaven, the god whom they knew. Their parents threw them out from the face of their gods, and they fled into Mesopotamia and sojourned there many days. 9 Then their god commanded them to depart from the place where they sojourned, and to go into the land of Kena’an. They lived there, and prospered with gold and silver, and with very large herds of cattle. 10 Then they went down into Mitsrayim (Egypt), for a famine covered all the land of Kena’an. They sojourned there until they’d grown up. They became a great multitude there, so that one couldn’t count the population of their nation. 11 Then the king of Mitsrayim rose up against them, and dealt subtly with them, and brought them low, making them labour in brick,[fn] and made them slaves. 12 They cried to their god, and he struck all the land of Mitsrayim with incurable plagues; so the Mitsrim (Egyptians) threw them out of their sight. 13 God dried up the Red sea before them, 14 and brought them into the way of Sinay Kadesh-Barnea and they threw out all that lived in the wilderness. 15 They lived in the land of the Amorim, and they destroyed by their strength everyone in Heshbon. Passing over Yarden (Jordan), they possessed all the hill country. 16 They threw out before them the Kena’ani (Canaanite), the Perizi, the Yevusi, the Shechemite, and all the Girgashim, and they lived in that country many days.

17 And while they didn’t sin before their god, they prospered, because God who hates iniquity was with them. 18 But when they departed from the way which he appointed them, they were destroyed in many severe battles, and were led captives into a land that wasn’t theirs. Their god’s temple was razed to the ground, and their cities were taken by their adversaries. 19 And now they’ve returned to their god, and have come up from the dispersion where they were dispersed, and have possessed Yerushalem (Jerusalem), where their sanctuary is, and are settled in the hill country; for it was desolate.

20 And now, my lord and master, if there’s any error in this people, and they sin against their god, we’ll find out what this thing is in which they stumble, and we’ll go up and overcome them. 21 But if there’s no lawlessness in their nation, let my lord now pass by, otherwise their master might defend them and their god might take their side, and we’d be disgraced before the whole world.”

22 When Ahior had finished speaking these words, all the people standing around the tent complained. The great men of Holofernes, and all who lived by the sea side and in Moav (Moab), said that he should be cut to pieces. 23 Because, they said, “We won’t be afraid of the Israeli people (Israel), because they’re a people that has no power nor might to make the battle strong. 24 Therefore now we’ll go up, and they’ll be a prey to be devoured by all your army, master Holofernes.”