Judith 1
The War between Nebuchadnezzar and Arphaxad
1While King Nebuchadnezzar was ruling over the Assyrians from his capital city of Nineveh, King Arphaxad ruled over the Medes from his capital city of Ecbatana. 2Round Ecbatana King Arphaxad built a wall thirty metres high and 22 metres thick of cut stones; each stone was 130 centimetres thick and 260 centimetres long. 3At each gate he built a tower 44 metres high, with a foundation 26 metres thick. 4Each gateway was thirty metres high and eighteen metres wide — wide enough for his whole army to march through, with the infantry in formation.
5In the twelfth year of his reign King Nebuchadnezzar went to war against King Arphaxad in the large plain round the city of Rages. 6Many nations joined forces with King Arphaxad — all the people who lived in the mountains, those who lived along the rivers Tigris, Euphrates, and Hydaspes, as well as those who lived in the plain ruled by King Arioch of Elam. Many nations joined this Chelodite alliance.
7Then King Nebuchadnezzar of Assyria sent a message to the Persians and to the people to the west, in the regions of Cilicia, Damascus, Lebanon, Antilebanon, to those along the coast, 8and in the regions of Carmel, Gilead, northern Galilee, and the Valley of Jezreel. 9-10The message also went to the people living in Samaria and the nearby towns, to those in the area west of the River Jordan as far as the cities of Jerusalem, Bethany, Chelous, and Kadesh, and to the district of Goshen. The message was also taken to the Egyptian cities of Tahpanhes, Rameses, Tanis, and Memphis, and the district up the River Nile to the Sudan border. 11But everyone in this whole region ignored King Nebuchadnezzar's appeal and refused to take part in the war. They thought that he had no chance of winning the war, so they were not afraid of him and sent his messengers back disgraced and empty-handed.
12This made Nebuchadnezzar so furious that he vowed he would risk his entire kingdom to take revenge on all those people. He vowed that he would put to death the entire population of Cilicia, Damascus, Syria, Moab, Ammon, Judah, and Egypt — everyone from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf.
13In the seventeenth year of his reign King Nebuchadnezzar led his army into battle against King Arphaxad. He defeated all Arphaxad's forces, including his entire cavalry, and all his charioteers. 14Then Nebuchadnezzar occupied all the towns in the land of Media and advanced against the city of Ecbatana. He captured the city's towers, looted its markets, and made that beautiful city a ruin. 15He captured King Arphaxad in the mountains round Rages and killed him. After Arphaxad's death, 16Nebuchadnezzar and his entire army returned to Nineveh with all the loot taken in battle. There they relaxed and feasted for four months.
Good News Translation® with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Anglicisation © The British and Foreign Bible Society 1976, 1994, 2004
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