24 And when he had crossed the Euphrates, he passed through Mesopotamia, and destroyed all the high cities by the brook Avron, as far as he entered the sea.

25 And when he had taken the borders of Cilicia, he slew all that were opposed to him, and when he had gone to the borders of Japheth, which lie to the south on the front side of Arabia,

26 And he went round about all the children of Midian, and burned their dwellings, and plundered their flocks.

27 And he went down to the plain of Damascus, at the time of the wheat harvest, and burned all their fields, and gave up their flocks of sheep and oxen to be destroyed, and plundered their cities, and laid waste their fields, and smote all their young men with the edge of the sword.

28 Fear and terror fell upon the inhabitants of the seaside country who dwelt in Sidon and Tyre, on the inhabitants of Sur and Okina, and on all the inhabitants of Iemnaan, and all the inhabitants of Ashdod and Ascalon were greatly frightened by it.

3

1 And they sent messengers to him with this peace proposal:

2 behold, we, servants of the great king Nebuchadnezzar, prostrate ourselves before thee: do unto us what thou wilt.

3 Behold, before thee, both our villages, and all our places, and all the fields of wheat, and the flocks of sheep and oxen, and all the buildings of our dwellings: use them as thou wilt.

4 Behold, our cities, and those that dwell in them, are thy servants: go and do with them as thy eyes please.

5 And men came to Holofernes, and told him these words.

6 Then he came into the country of the sea, with his army, and surrounded the high cities with guards, and took of them the choice men to be his companions.

7 And they, and all their neighbourhood, received him with wreaths, faces, and tympanums.

8 And he laid waste all their high places, and cut down their groves: he was commanded to destroy all the gods of the land, that all the nations might serve Nebuchadnezzar alone, and all the tongues and all their families should call upon him as God.