8 And all the captains of the children of Esau, and all the leaders of the people of Moab, and all the captains of the captains of the coast, came to him, and said,
9 Hearken, O our lord, to the word, that there may be no loss in thy army.
10 This people of the children of Israel do not trust in their spears, but in the high places of their mountains in which they live, because it is inconvenient to go up to the tops of their mountains.
11 Therefore, my lord, do not fight with him as there is an ordinary war, and not a single man will fall from your people.
12 Thou shalt remain in thy camp, that thou mayest preserve every man in thy army, and that thy servants shall possess the fountain of water that flows out of the foot of the mountain;
13 for all the inhabitants of Bethulia take water from it, and thirst shall destroy them, and they shall give up their city; And we and our people will go up to the near peaks of the mountains, and encamp ourselves on them to keep watch, so that no man may go out of the city.
14 And they shall be tormented with hunger, and their wives and their children, and before the sword touches them, they shall fall in the streets of their abode;
15 And thou shalt repay them with evil, because they were troubled, and did not meet thee in peace.
16 And Holofernes and all his servants were pleased with these words, and he resolved to do as they had said.
17 И двинулся полк сынов Аммона и с ними пять тысяч сынов Ассура и, расположившись в долине, овладели водами и источниками вод сынов Израиля.
18 А сыны Исава и сыны Аммона взошли и заняли нагорную область против Дофаима, и отправили часть их на юг и на восток против Екревиля, что близ Хуса, стоящего при потоке Мохмур; остальное же Ассирийское войско расположилось на равнине и покрыло все лице земли: шатры и обозы их с множеством народа растянулись на весьма большом пространстве.
19 Сыны Израиля воззвали к Господу Богу своему, потому что они пришли в уныние, так как все враги их окружили их, и им нельзя было бежать от них.
20 Вокруг них стояло все войско Ассирийское, — пешие, колесницы и конница их, — тридцать четыре дня; у всех жителей Ветилуи истощились все сосуды с водою,
21 опустели водоемы, и ни в один день они не могли пить воды досыта, потому что давали им пить мерою.