JUDETH 5 & 6

Judeth 5

Anchior the Ammonite doeth decclare to Olosernes of the manner of the Israelites.

THEN was it declared to Olosernes the chief captain of the army of Assur, that the children of Israel had prepared for war, and had shut the passage of the mountains, and had walled up the tops of the high hills, and had laid impediments in the champion country.

Wherewith he was very angry, and called all the princes of Moab, and the captains of Ammon, and all the governors of the sea coast.

And he said unto them, Show me, o ye sons of Chanaan [Canaan]*, who is this people that dwell in the mountains? and what are the cities that they inhabit? and what is the multitude of their army? and wherein is their strength and their power? and what King or captain is raised among them over their armies?

And why have they determined not to come to meet me, more than all the inhabitants of the West?

Then said Achior the captain of all the sons of Ammon, Let my lord hear the word of the mouth of his servant, and I will declare unto thee the truth concerning this people, that dwell in these mountains, near where thou remain: and there shall no lie come out of the mouth of thy servant.

This people come of the stock of the Chaldeans.

And they dwelt before in Mesopotamia, because they would not follow the gods of their fathers, which were in the land of Chaldea.

But they went out of the way of their ancestors and worshiped the God of heaven, the God whom they knew: so they cast them out from the face of their gods, and they fled into Mesopotamia, and sojourned there many days.

Then their God commanded them to depart from the place where they sojourned, and to go into the land of Chanaan, where they dwelt, and were increased with gold and silver, and with very much cattle.

But when a famine covered all the land of Chanaan, they went down into Egypt, and dwelt there until they returned, and became there a great multitude, so that one cold not number their lineage.

Therefore the King of Egypt rose up against them, and used deceit against them, and brought them low with laboring in brick, and made themselves.

Then they cried unto their God, and he smote all the land of Egypt with incurable plagues: so the Egyptians cast them out of their sight.

And God dried the red Sea in their presence,

And brought them into mount Sina and Cades barn, and cast forth all that dwelt in the wilderness.

So they dwelt in the land of the Amorites, and they destroyed by their strength all them of Esebon, and passing over Iordan, they inherited all the mountains.

And they cast forth before them the Chanaanites and the Pheresites, and the Iebusites, and them of Sichem, and all the Gergesites, and they dwelt in that country many days.

And whiles they sinned not before their God, they prospered, because the God that hated iniquity, was with them.

But when they departed from the way which he appointed them, they were destroyed in many battles after a wonderful sort, and were led captives into a land that was not theirs: and the Temple of their God was cast to the ground and their cities were taken by the enemies.

But now they are turned to their God, and are come up from the scattering whererin they were scattered, and have possessed Jerusalem, where their Temple is, and dwell in the mountains which were desolate.

Now therefore, my lord and governor, if there be any fault of this peopel, so that they have sinned against their God, let us consider that this shall be their ruin, and let us go up, and we shall overcome them.

But if there be none iniquity in this people, let my lord pass by, lest their Lord defend them, and their God be for them, and we become a reproach before all the world.

And when Achior had finished these sayings, all the people, standing round about the tent, murmured: and the chief men of Olosernes, and all that dwelt by the seaside in Moab, spake that he should kill him.

For, say they, we fear not to meet and children of Israel: for lo, it is a people that have no strength nor power against a might army.

Let us therefore go up, o lord Olosernes, and they shall be meat for thy whole army.

Judeth 6

Olosernes blasphemes God whom Anchior confessed. Achior is delivered into the hands of them of Bethulia. 18 The Bethulians cry unto the Lord.

AND when the tumult of the men that were about the counsel, was ceased, Olosernes, the chief captain of the army of Assur, said unto Achior before all the people of the strangers, and before all the children of Moab, and of them that were hired of Ephraim,

Because thou hast prophesied among us today, and hast said that the people of Jerusalem is able to fight, because their God will defend them: and who is god but Nabuchodonosor?

He will send his power, and will destroy them from the face of the earth, and their God shall not deliver them: but we his servants will destroy them as one man: for they are not able to sustain the power of our horses.

For we will tread them under foot with them, and their mountains shall be drunken with their blood, and their fields shall be filled with their dead bodies, and their foot steps shall not be able to stand before us: but they shall utterly perish.

The King Nabuchodonosor, lord of all the earth, hath said, even he hath said, None of my words shall be in vain.

And thou Achior an hireling of Ammon, because thou hast spoken these words in the day of thine iniquity, thou shalt see my face no more from this day until I take vengeance of that people that is come out of Egypt.

And then shall the iron of mine armies, and the multitude of them that serve me, pass through thy sides, and thou shalt fall among their slain, when I shall put them to flight.

And my servants shall carry thee into the mountains, and they shall leave thee at one of the high cities: but thou shalt not perish, til though be destroyed with them.

And if thou persuade thyself in thy mind, that they shall not be taken, let not thy countenance fall: I have spoken it, and none of my words shall be in vain.

Then commanded Olosernes them concerning Achior, that they should bring him to Bethulia, and deliver him into the hands of the children of Israel.

So his servants took him, and brought him out of the camp into the plain: and they went out from the midst of the plain into the mountains, and came unto the fountains that were under Bethulia.

And when the men of the city saw them from the top of the mountain, they took their armor, and went forth of the city unto the top of the mountains, even all the throwers with slings, and kept them from coming up, by casting stones against them.

But they went privily under the hill, and bound Achior, and left him lying at the foot of the hill, and returned to their lord.

Then the Israelites came down from their city, and stood about him, and loosed him and brought him into Bethulia, and presented him to the governors of their city,

Which were in those days, Ozias the son of Micha, of the tribe of Simeon, and Chabris the son of Gothoniel, and Charmis the son of Melchiel.

And they called together all the Ancients of the city, and all their youth ran together, and their women to the assembly: and they set Achior in the midst of all their people. Then Ozias asked him of that which was done.

And he answered and declared unto them the words of the counsel of Olosernes, and all the words that he had spoken in the midst of the princes of Assur, and whatsoever Olosernes had spoken proudly against the house of Israel.

Then the people fell down and worshiped God, and cried unto God, saying,

O Lord God of heaven, behold their pride, and have mercy on the baseness of our people, and behold this day the face of those that are sanctified unto thee.

Then they comforted Achior, and praised him greatly.

And Ozias took out of the assembly into his house, and made a feast to the Elders, and they called on the God of Israel all that night for help.

*WP4Y