1
And when the tumult of men who were about the council had ceased, Holofernes, the chief captain of the army of Assyria, said unto Achior and all the Moabites before all the company of other nations:
2
"And who art thou, Achior, and the hirelings of Ephraim, that thou hast prophesied against us as today, and hast said that we should not make war with the people of Israel, because their god will defend them? And who is god but Nebuchadnezzar?
3
He will send his power, and will destroy them from the face of the earth, and their god shall not deliver them; but we, his servants, will destroy them as one man, for they are not able to sustain the power of our horses.
4
For with them we will tread them under foot, and their mountains shall be drunk with their blood, and their fields shall be filled with their dead bodies, and their footsteps shall not be able to stand before us, for they shall utterly perish, saith King Nebuchadnezzar, lord of all the earth. For he said, `None of my words shall be in vain.'
5
And thou, Achior, a hireling of Ammon, who hast spoken these words in the day of thine iniquity, shalt see my face no more from this day until I take vengeance on this nation that came out of Egypt.
6
And then shall the sword of mine army and the multitude of those who serve me pass through thy sides, and thou shalt fall among their slain when I return.
7
Now therefore my servants shall bring thee back into the hill country, and shall set thee in one of the cities of the passages,
8
and thou shalt not perish till thou be destroyed with them.
9
And if thou persuade thyself in thy mind that they shall not be taken, let not thy countenance fall. I have spoken it, and none of my words shall be in vain."
10
Then Holofernes commanded his servants who waited in his tent to take Achior and bring him to Bethulia, and deliver him into the hands of the children of Israel.
11
So his servants took him and brought him out of the camp into the plain; and they went from the midst of the plain into the hill country, and came unto the fountains that were under Bethulia.
12
And when the men of the city saw them, they took up their weapons and went out of the city to the top of the hill; and every man who used a sling kept them from coming up by casting of stones against them.
13
Nevertheless, having gotten privily under the hill, they bound Achior and cast him down, and left him at the foot of the hill, and returned to their lord.
14
But the Israelites descended from their city and came unto him, and loosed him and brought him to Bethulia, and presented him to the governors of the city,
15
who were in those days Uzziah the son of Micah, of the tribe of Simeon, and Chabris the son of Gothoniel, and Charmis the son of Melchiel.
16
And they called together all the elders of the city, and all their youth ran together and their women to the assembly, and they set Achior in the midst of all their people. Then Uzziah asked him of that which was done.
17
And he answered and declared unto them the words of the council of Holofernes, and all the words that he had spoken in the midst of the princes of Assyria, and whatsoever Holofernes had spoken proudly against the house of Israel.
18
Then the people fell down and worshiped God, and cried unto God, saying,
19
"O Lord God of heaven, behold their pride, and pity the low estate of our nation, and look upon the face of those who are sanctified unto Thee this day."
20
Then they comforted Achior, and praised him greatly.
21
And Uzziah took him out of the assembly unto his house, and made a feast for the elders; and they called on the God of Israel all that night for help.