1
Then was it declared to Holofernes, the chief captain of the army of Assyria, that the children of Israel had prepared for war, and had shut up the passages of the hill country, and had fortified all the tops of the high hills and had laid impediments in the champaign countries.
2
Thereupon he was very angry, and called all the princes of Moab and the captains of Ammon and all the governors of the seacoast.
3
And he said unto them, "Tell me now, ye sons of Canaan, who this people is that dwelleth in the hill country? And what are the cities that they inhabit? And what is the multitude of their army? And wherein is their power and strength? And what king is set over them, or captain of their army?
4
And why are they determined not to come and meet me, more than all the inhabitants of the west?"
5
Then said Achior, the captain of all the sons of Ammon: "Let my lord now hear a word from the mouth of thy servant, and I will declare unto thee the truth concerning this people which dwelleth near thee and inhabiteth the hill countries; and there shall no lie come out of the mouth of thy servant.
6
This people are descended from the Chaldeans.
7
And they sojourned heretofore in Mesopotamia, because they would not follow the gods of their fathers, which were in the land of Chaldea.
8
For they left the way of their ancestors and worshiped the God of heaven, the God whom they knew. So they cast 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 Canaan, where they dwelt, and were increased with gold and silver and with very much cattle.