1   When it was reported to Holophernes, the Assyrian commander-in-chief, that the Israelites had prepared for war, and that they had closed the passes in the hill-country, fortified all the heights, and dug pitfalls in the plains, he was furious. 2   He summoned all the rulers of Moab, the Ammonite commanders, and all the governors of the coastal region, 3   and said to them, ‘Tell me, you Canaanites, what nation is this that lives in the hill-country? What towns do they inhabit? How big is their army? What gives them their power and strength? 4   Who is the king that commands their forces? Why are they the only people of the west who have refused to come and meet me?’

5   Then Achior, the leader of all the Ammonites, said to him, ‘My lord, if you will allow your servant to speak, I will tell you the truth about this nation that lives in the hill-country near here; and no lie shall pass my lips. 6    7   They are descended from the Chaldaeans; and at one time they settled in Mesopotamia, because they refused to worship the gods their fathers had worshipped in Chaldaea. 8   They abandoned the ways of their ancestors and worshipped the God of Heaven, the god whom they now acknowledged. When the Chaldaeans drove them out from the presence of their gods, they fled to Mesopotamia, where they lived for a long time. 9   Then their god told them to leave their new home and go on to Canaan. They settled there and acquired great wealth in gold, silver, and livestock.

The Assyrian invasion

10   ‘Because of a famine which spread over the whole of Canaan, they went down to Egypt and lived there as long as they were supplied with food. While in Egypt, they multiplied so greatly that their numbers could not be reckoned, 11   and the king of Egypt turned against them. He exploited them by setting them to hard labour making bricks, and he reduced them to abject slavery. 12   They cried out to their god, and he inflicted incurable plagues on the whole of Egypt. 13   So the Egyptians turned them out; and their god dried up the Red Sea for them and led them on to Sinai and Cadesh-barnea. 14   Then 15   they drove out all the inhabitants of the wilderness and settled in the land of the Amorites, and they destroyed all the people of Heshbon by force of arms. After that they crossed the Jordan and occupied all the hill-country, 16   driving out the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Shechemites, and all the Girgashites. There they settled for a long time.

17   ‘As long as they did not sin against their god, they prospered; for theirs is a god who hates wickedness. 18   But when they left the path he had laid down for them, they suffered heavy losses in many wars and were carried captive to a foreign country; the temple of their god was razed to the ground, and their towns were occupied by their enemies. 19   But now that they have returned to their god, they have come back from the places where they had been dispersed, and have taken possession of Jerusalem, where their sanctuary is, and have settled in the hill-country, because it was uninhabited.

20   ‘Now, my lord and master, if these people are guilty of an error and are sinning against their god, and if we find out that they have committed this offence, then we may go and make war on them. 21   But if these people have committed no wickedness, leave them alone, my lord, for fear the god they serve should protect them and we become the laughing-stock of the world.’ 22   When Achior stopped speaking there were protests from all those who stood round the tent. Holophernes' officers and all the people from the coastal region and from Moab demanded that Achior should be cut to pieces. 23   ‘We are not going to be afraid of the Israelites,’ they said, ‘a people quite incapable of putting an effective army in the field. 24   Let us go ahead, Lord Holophernes; your great army will swallow them whole.’

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