What does Judith Chapter 2 record?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The king announces revenge on the twenty-second day of the first month of his thirteenth year and commissions Holofernes. The muster records a hundred and twenty thousand footmen and twelve thousand archers, horsemen, with abundant provisions. The itinerary ends with burning corn and cutting trees and vineyards near Damascus, followed by fear among the inhabitants.

Chapter breakdown

On the twenty-second day of the first month in the thirteenth year of King Nabuchodonosor's reign, the decree was issued in his palace that he would execute his promised revenge. The Assyrian monarch summoned all his elders, provincial governors, and military commanders to disclose his secret counsel: his intention to bring the entire earth under his imperial dominion. When this proposal pleased the assembled leaders, Nabuchodonosor called Holofernes, the supreme commander of his armies. The king ordered him to march against all the kingdoms of the west, giving special attention to those who had despised his earlier royal command. Nabuchodonosor instructed him to show no mercy to any kingdom and to bring every fortified city under the imperial yoke.

Holofernes assembled his captains and military officers, mustering an expeditionary force of one hundred and twenty thousand infantrymen and twelve thousand mounted archers in obedience to the royal decree. He organized immense logistical preparations to precede the army, gathering an innumerable multitude of camels laden with abundant supplies, together with countless herds of oxen and unnumbered flocks of sheep. He ordered grain to be prepared throughout all Syria along his route of march and took an immense quantity of gold and silver from the royal treasury.

The general set forth at the head of the entire army, accompanied by chariots, cavalry, and archers, who spread across the land like a swarm of locusts. After crossing the borders of Assyria, Holofernes reached the great mountains of Ange to the left of Cilicia, where he stormed the castles and seized all the mountain strongholds. He then captured the renowned city of Melothus by direct assault and plundered the descendants of Tharsis and Ismahel along the edge of the desert to the south of the land of Cellon.

Holofernes next crossed the Euphrates into Mesopotamia, forcing all the stately cities from the torrent of Mambre to the sea. He secured the entire frontier from Cilicia southward to the coasts of Japheth. Moving against the people of Madian, he carried them away into captivity, stripped them of their wealth, and put to the sword all who resisted his advance. Finally, he descended into the plains of Damascus during harvest time, setting all the corn on fire and cutting down the trees and vineyards. This widespread destruction struck deep terror into all the inhabitants of the land.

The story inside

Context and action: The king announces revenge on the twenty-second day of the first month of his thirteenth year and commissions Holofernes. Response: The muster records a hundred and twenty thousand footmen and twelve thousand archers, horsemen, with abundant provisions. Recorded continuation: The itinerary ends with burning corn and cutting trees and vineyards near Damascus, followed by fear among the inhabitants.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The king announces revenge on the twenty-second day of the first month of his thirteenth year and commissions Holofernes.
2
The muster records a hundred and twenty thousand footmen and twelve thousand archers, horsemen, with abundant provisions.
3
The itinerary ends with burning corn and cutting trees and vineyards near Damascus, followed by fear among the inhabitants.

Test your recall

What destruction is recorded in Damascus, and what reaction follows?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 51699–51701
In the thirteenth year of the reign of Nabuchodonosor, the two and twentieth day of the first month, the word was given out in the house of Nabuchodonosor king of the Assyrians, that he would revenge himself.
Lines 51718–51721
Then Holofernes called the captains, and officers of the power of the Assyrians: and he mustered men for the expedition, as the king commanded him, a hundred and twenty thousand fighting men on foot, and twelve thousand archers, horsemen.
Lines 51736–51738
And when he had passed through the borders of the Assyrians, he came to the great mountains of Ange, which are on the left of Cilicia: and he went up to all their castles, and took all the strong places.
Lines 51756–51758
And after these things he went down into the plains of Damascus in the days of the harvest, and he set all the corn on fire, and he caused all the trees and vineyards to be cut down.