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In the eighteenth year, on the twenty-second day of the first month, the word went forth in the house of Nevukhadnetzar, king of the Ashshurim, that he would take vengeance upon all the earth, just as he had spoken.
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And he called together all his servants and all his great ones, and made known to them his secret counsel, and with his own mouth completed the evil against all the earth.
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And they determined to destroy all flesh that had not obeyed the word of his mouth.
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And when he had completed his counsel, Nevukhadnetzar, king of the Ashshurim, called Holofernes, the chief captain of his army, who was second after himself,
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and said to him: “Thus says the great king, the master of all the earth: See, you shall go out from before my face and take with you men confident in their strength— one hundred and twenty thousand foot soldiers, and twelve thousand horsemen with their horses.
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And you shall go against all the western land, because they disobeyed the word of my mouth.
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And you shall proclaim to them that they prepare earth and water, for I am coming against them in my wrath. And I shall cover the whole face of the earth with the feet of my army, and I shall give them to plunder.
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Their wounded shall fill their valleys, and every stream and river shall be filled with their dead until it overflows.
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And I shall lead their captives to the ends of all the earth.
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Therefore go. Seize beforehand all their territory for me. And if they surrender themselves to you, you shall keep them for me until the day of their punishment.
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But concerning those who rebel, let your eye not spare them. Give them over to slaughter and plunder throughout all your territory.
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For by my life and by the power of my kingdom, I have spoken, and by my own hand I shall accomplish these things.
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And you shall not transgress one word of the commands of your master, but accomplishing, you shall surely accomplish them, just as I commanded you. And you shall not delay to perform them.”
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Then Holofernes went out from before the face of his master and called together all the rulers, and the commanders, and the officers of the army of Ashshur.
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And he numbered chosen men for battle, just as his master had commanded him— one hundred and twenty thousand, and twelve thousand mounted archers.
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And he arranged them according to the order of a great army.
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And he took camels, and donkeys, and mules for their baggage— an exceedingly great multitude— and sheep, and cattle, and goats without number for their provisions,
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and abundant food for every ish, and very much gold and silver from the house of the king.
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Then he went out, he and all his army, to go before King Nevukhadnetzar and to cover all the face of the earth toward the west with their chariots, and horsemen, and chosen infantry.
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And a great mixed multitude went with them, like locusts and like the sand of the earth, for their multitude could not be numbered.
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And they went a journey of three days from Nineveh toward the plain of Bectileth, and encamped from Bectileth near the mountain which is at the left of Upper Kilikia.
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And from there he took all his army— his infantry, and horsemen, and chariots— and went into the hill country.
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And he destroyed Phud and Lud, and plundered all the sons of Rassis and the sons of Yishma’el, who were along the wilderness toward the south of the Cheleonites.
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And he passed beyond the Perath, and went through Aram-Naharayim, and destroyed all the high cities that were upon the river Abron until he came to the sea.
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And he seized the borders of Kilikia, and cut down all who resisted him, and came to the borders of Yefet, which are toward the south, opposite Arav.
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And he surrounded all the sons of Midyan, and burned their tents, and plundered their sheepfolds.
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Then he went down into the plain of Dammeseq in the days of the wheat harvest, and burned all their fields, and destroyed their flocks and herds. And he plundered their cities, devastated their plains, and struck all their young men with the edge of the sword.
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And fear and trembling of him fell upon all the inhabitants of the coastland— upon those in Tzidon and Tzor, and those dwelling in Sur and Okina, and all who dwelt in Yavneh. And those dwelling in Ashdod and Ashqelon feared him exceedingly.