4
Why have they alone, of all the people in the west, refused to come out and surrender to me?"
5
Then Achior, the leader of all the Ammonites, answered Holofernes, "Sir, if you will please be so kind as to listen to me, I will tell you the truth about these people who live in the mountains near your camp. I will not lie to you.
6
These people are the descendants of some Babylonians
7
who abandoned the ways of their ancestors in order to worship the God of heaven. Finally, they were driven out of their land because they refused to worship their ancestors' gods. Then they fled to Mesopotamia, where they settled and lived for a long time.
9
"Afterward, their god told them to leave Mesopotamia and go to the land of Canaan, where they settled and became very rich in gold, silver, and livestock.
10
Later, when a famine struck all the land of Canaan, these Israelites, as they were later called, went down to Egypt and stayed there as long as there was enough food. While they were there, they became a large nation with so many people that they could not be counted.
11
So the king of Egypt turned against them. He took advantage of them and put them to work making bricks. He oppressed them and made them slaves.
12
But they prayed to their god, and he sent disasters that left the Egyptians helpless. When the Egyptians drove them out of the country,
13
their god dried up the Red Sea in front of them,
14
and then led them along the way to Sinai and Kadesh Barnea. "The Israelites drove out all the people who lived in the southern part of Canaan,