7:4 Now the children of Israel, when they saw the multitude of them,
were greatly troubled, and said every one to his neighbour, Now will
these men lick up the face of the earth; for neither the high
mountains, nor the valleys, nor the hills, are able to bear their
weight.
7:5 Then every man took up his weapons of war, and when they had
kindled fires upon their towers, they remained and watched all that
night.
7:6 But in the second day Holofernes brought forth all his horsemen in
the sight of the children of Israel which were in Bethulia,
7:7 And viewed the passages up to the city, and came to the fountains
of their waters, and took them, and set garrisons of men of war over
them, and he himself removed toward his people.
7:8 Then came unto him all the chief of the children of Esau, and all
the governors of the people of Moab, and the captains of the sea coast,
and said,
7:9 Let our lord now hear a word, that there be not an overthrow in
thine army.
7:10 For this people of the children of Israel do not trust in their
spears, but in the height of the mountains wherein they dwell, because
it is not easy to come up to the tops of their mountains.
7:11 Now therefore, my lord, fight not against them in battle array,
and there shall not so much as one man of thy people perish.
7:12 Remain in thy camp, and keep all the men of thine army, and let
thy servants get into their hands the fountain of water, which issueth
forth of the foot of the mountain:
7:13 For all the inhabitants of Bethulia have their water thence; so
shall thirst kill them, and they shall give up their city, and we and
our people shall go up to the tops of the mountains that are near, and
will camp upon them, to watch that none go out of the city.
7:14 So they and their wives and their children shall be consumed with
famine, and before the sword come against them, they shall be
overthrown in the streets where they dwell.
7:15 Thus shalt thou render them an evil reward; because they rebelled,
and met not thy person peaceably.
7:16 And these words pleased Holofernes and all his servants, and he
appointed to do as they had spoken.
7:17 So the camp of the children of Ammon departed, and with them five
thousand of the Assyrians, and they pitched in the valley, and took the
waters, and the fountains of the waters of the children of Israel.
7:18 Then the children of Esau went up with the children of Ammon, and
camped in the hill country over against Dothaim: and they sent some of
them toward the south, and toward the east over against Ekrebel, which
is near unto Chusi, that is upon the brook Mochmur; and the rest of the
army of the Assyrians camped in the plain, and covered the face of the
whole land; and their tents and carriages were pitched to a very great
multitude.
7:19 Then the children of Israel cried unto the Lord their God, because
their heart failed, for all their enemies had compassed them round
about, and there was no way to escape out from among them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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