3:1
Then they sent messengers to him with words of shalom, saying:
3:2
“See, we are servants of the great king Nevukhadnetzar. We lie down before you. Do to us according to what is good in your eyes.
3:3
See, our dwellings, and all our territory, and every field of wheat, and the flocks and herds, and all the folds of our tents are before your face. Use them as it is good in your eyes.
3:4
See also, our cities and those dwelling within them are your servants. Come and deal with them according to what is good in your eyes.”
3:5
And the men came to Holofernes and reported to him according to these words.
3:6
Then he went down toward the coastland, he and his army, and he set garrisons in the fortified cities, and took from them chosen men as auxiliaries.
3:7
And they and all the surrounding country received him with wreaths, with dances, and with tambourines.
3:8
But he destroyed all their high places, and cut down their sacred groves, for it had been commanded to him to destroy all the mighty ones of the land, so that all nations and every tongue should serve Nevukhadnetzar alone and call upon him as a mighty one.
3:9
Then he came toward Yizre’el, near Dothan, which is opposite the great ridge of Yehudah.
3:10
And he encamped between Geva and Scythopolis, and remained there a whole month to gather together all the baggage of his army.