26 обошел кругом всех сынов Мадиама, выжег жилища их и разграбил стада их.

27 Потом спустился на равнину Дамаска, во время жатвы пшеницы, выжег все нивы их, отдал на истребление стада овец и волов, разграбил города их, опустошил их поля и избил всех юношей их острием меча.

28 Страх и ужас напал на жителей приморской страны, обитавших в Сидоне и Тире, на жителей Сура и Окины и на всех жителей Иемнаана, – и все обитатели Азота и Аскалона сильно испугались его.

Глава 3

1 И послали к нему вестников с таким мирным предложением:

2 вот мы, рабы великого царя Навуходоносора, повергаемся перед тобою: делай с нами, что тебе угодно.

3 Вот перед тобою: и селения наши, и все места наши, и все нивы с пшеницею, и стада овец и волов, и все строения наших жилищ: употребляй их, как пожелаешь.

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

9 And when he came to Esdraelon by Dotea, which lies against the great gorge of Judah,

10 and he encamped between Hawaii and the city of the Scythians, and remained there for a whole month, in order to assemble the whole baggage of his army.

Chapter 4

1 And when the children of Israel dwelt in Judah, when they heard all that Holofernes, the captain of the army of Nebuchadnezzar king of Assyria, had done to the nations, and how he had plundered all their sanctuaries, and had given them over to destruction,

2 They were very, very much afraid of him, and trembled for Jerusalem, and for the temple of the Lord their God.

3 For they have recently returned from captivity, and lately all the people of Judah are gathered together, and the vessels, the altar, and the house of the Lord are sanctified from defilement.

4 And they sent into all the borders of Samaria, and Konyah, and Veteron, and Belmen, and Jericho, and into Hovah, and Esorah, and into the plain of Salem,

5 And they occupied all the tops of the high mountains, and enclosed with walls the villages which were therein, and laid aside the stores of corn in case of war, because their fields had lately been compressed,

6 And Jehoiakim the high priest, who was in Jerusalem in those days, wrote to the inhabitants of Bethulia, and of Betomesthem, which lies opposite Esdraelon, on the front side of the plain which is near to Dothaim,