3
And he said that his thoughts were to bring all the earth under his empire.
4
And when this saying pleased them all, Nabuchodonosor, the king, called Holofernes the general of his armies,
5
And said to him: Go out against all the kingdoms of the west, and against them especially that despised my commandment.
6
Thy eye shall not spare any kingdom, and all the strong cities thou shalt bring under my yoke.
7
Then Holofernes called the captains and officers of the power of the Assyrians: and he mustered men for the expedition, as the king commanded him, a hundred and twenty thousand fighting men on foot, and twelve thousand archers, horsemen.
8
And he made all his warlike preparations to go before with a multitude of innumerable camels, with all provisions sufficient for the armies in abundance, and herds of oxen, and flocks of sheep, without number.
9
He appointed corn to be prepared out of all Syria in his passage.
10
But gold and silver he took out of the king's house in great abundance.
11
And he went forth he and all the army, with the chariots, and horsemen, and archers, who covered the face of the earth, like locusts.
12
And when he had passed through the borders of the Assyrians, he came to the great mountains of Ange, which are on the left of Cilicia: and he went up to all their castles, and took all the strong places.
13
And he took by assault the renowned city of Melothus, and pillaged all the children of Tharsis, and the children of Ismahel, who were over against the face of the desert, and on the south of the land of Cellon.