1 And in the eighteenth year, the twenty-second day of the first month, it was spoken in the house of Neḇuḵaḏnetstsar sovereign of Ashshur that he should, as he said, avenge himself on all the earth.
2 So he called all his officers to him, and all his nobles, and spoke with them his secret counsel, and decided upon afflicting the whole earth out of his own mouth.
3 Then they decreed to destroy all flesh, that did not obey the command from his mouth.
4 And when he had ended his counsel, Neḇuḵaḏnetstsar sovereign of Ashshur called Holophernĕs the chief captain of his army, who was next to him, and said to him.
5 “Thus said the great sovereign, the master of the whole earth, “See, you shall go out from my presence, and take men with you that trust in their own strength: one hundred and twenty thousand footmen; and the number of twelve thousand horses with their riders.
6 “And you shall go against all the western land, because they disobeyed my command.
7 “And you shall declare to them that they prepare for me earth and water; for I shall go forth in my wrath against them and shall cover the whole face of the earth with the feet of my army, and I shall give them for a plunder,
8 so that their slain shall fill their valleys and wadis and the river shall be filled with their dead, till it overflows.
9 “And I shall lead them captive to the farthest parts of all the earth.
10 “You therefore shall go out beforehand and take for me all their coasts; and if they surrender themselves to you, you shall reserve them for me till the day of their punishment.
11 “But concerning those who rebel, do not let your eye spare them; but put them to the slaughter, and plunder them wherever you go.
12 “For as I live, and by the power of my reign, whatever I have spoken, that I shall do by my hand.
13 “And take heed that you transgress none of the commands of your master, but accomplish them fully, as I have commanded you, and do not delay to do them.”
14 Then Holophernĕs went out from the presence of his master, and called all the governors and captains and the officers of the army of Ashshur;
15 and he mustered the chosen men for the battle, as his master had commanded him, to one hundred and twenty thousand, and twelve thousand mounted archers;
16 and he arranged them, as a great army is ordered for battle.
17 And he took camels and donkeys for their supplies, a very great number; and sheep and oxen and goats without number for their provisions,
18 and plenty of food for every man of the army, and very much gold and silver out of the sovereign’s palace.
19 Then he went forth and all his strength to go before sovereign Neḇuḵaḏnetstsar in the journey, and to cover all the face of the earth westward with their chariots and horsemen and their chosen footmen.
20 A great number of various countries also came with them like locusts, and like the dust of the earth; for the crowd was without number.
21 And they went forth from Ninewĕh three days’ journey toward the plain of Bĕktilĕth, and pitched from Bĕktilĕth near the mountain which is to the left hand of upper Kilikia.
22 Then he took all his army; his footmen and horsemen and chariots, and went from there into the hill country;
23 and destroyed Put and Luḏ, and plundered all the children of Rassis, and the Yishma’ĕlites, who were toward the wilderness to the south of the land of the Ḵelleans.
24 Then he passed over Perath, and went through Aram Naharayim, and destroyed all the high cities that were on the River Aḇrona, till you come to the sea.
25 And he took the borders of Kilikia, and killed all who resisted him, and came to the borders of Yepheth, which were toward the south, opposite Araḇia.
26 He also surrounded all the children of Miḏian, and burned up their tents, and plundered their sheepfolds.
27 Then he went down into the plain of Dammeseq in the time of wheat harvest, and burned up all their fields, and destroyed their flocks and herds, he also plundered their cities and utterly laid waste their lands and smote all their young men with the edge of the sword.
28 Therefore the fear and dread of him fell upon all the inhabitants of the seacoasts who were in Tsor and Tsiḏon and those who dwelt in Sur and Okeyna, and all who dwelt in Yemna’an; and those who dwelt in Ashdoḏ and Ashqelon feared him greatly.