1. In the eighteenth year, on the twenty-second day of the first month, there was a discussion in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians, about taking revenge on all the land, as he had threatened.
2. He summoned all his attendants and officers, laid before them his secret plan, and with his own lips recounted in full detail the wickedness of all the land.
3. They decided to destroy all who had refused to obey the order he had issued.
4. When he had fully recounted his plan, Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians, summoned Holofernes, the ranking general of his forces, second only to himself in command, and said to him:
5. “Thus says the great king, the lord of all the earth: Go forth from my presence, take with you men of proven valor, one hundred and twenty thousand infantry and twelve thousand cavalry,
6. and proceed against all the land of the west, because they disobeyed the order I issued.
7. Tell them to have earth and water ready, for I will come against them in my wrath; I will cover all the land with the feet of my soldiers, to whom I will deliver them as spoils.
8. Their wounded will fill their ravines and wadies, the swelling river will be choked with their dead;
9. and I will deport them as exiles to the very ends of the earth.
10. “Go before me and take possession of all their territories for me. If they surrender to you, guard them for me until the day of their sentencing.
11. As for those who disobey, show them no mercy, but deliver them up to slaughter and plunder in all the land you occupy.
12. For as I live, and by the strength of my kingdom, what I have spoken I will accomplish by my own hand.