1. And in the eighteenth year, the two and twentieth day of the first month, there was talk in the house of Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians, that he should be avenged on all the land, even as he spoke.
2. And he called together all his servants, and all his great men, and communicated with them his secret counsel, and concluded the afflicting of all the land out of his own mouth.
3. And they decreed to destroy all flesh which followed not the word of his mouth.
4. And it came to pass, when he had ended his counsel, Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians called Holofernes the chief captain of his host, which was next after himself, and said to him,
5. Thus says the great king, the lord of all the earth, Behold, you shall go forth from my presence, and take with you men that trust in their strength, to a hundred and twenty thousand footmen; and the number of horses with their riders twelve thousand:
6. and you shall go forth against all the west country, because they disobeyed the commandment of my mouth.
7. And you shall declare to them, that they prepare earth and water; because I will go forth in my wrath against them, and will cover the whole face of the earth with the feet of my host, and I will give them for a spoil to them:
8. and their slain shall fill their valleys and brooks, and the river shall be filled with their dead, till it overflow:
9. and I will lead them captives to the utmost parts of all the earth.
10. But you shall go forth, and take beforehand for me all their coasts; and if they shall yield themselves to you, then shall you reserve them for me till the day of their reproof.
11. But as for them that are disobedient, your eye shall not spare; but you shall give them up to be slain and to be spoiled in all your land.
12. For as I live, and by the power of my kingdom, I have spoken, and I will do this with my hand.