Then did all the kings and chief rulers of the cities and regions send their messengers from Syria Mesopotamia, and from Syria Zoba, and from Libyia, and from Cilicia, which came to Holofernes, and said,

Let thy indignation cease from us: for it is better for us to live as servants to the great king, and to yield ourselves unto thee, than to die and be destroyed, and to bear the loss of bondage.

All our cities and all our possessions, and our mountains and hills, and our fields, and our cattle, even to the herds of kine and flocks of sheep and goats, and camels and horses, are before thy face.

All that is under thy command.

We and our children are thy servants.

Therefore come unto us in peace, master, and use us as it seemeth good unto thee.

Then Holofernes came down with his horsemen in great power, and took possession of all the cities and all the inhabitants of the land.

And from every city he took to him for auxiliaries men of might and chosen for war.

So great fear fell upon all the countries, that the inhabitants of all the cities, the rulers and the nobles with their peoples, went out to meet him.

And they received him with garlands and with lamps, dancing with timbrels and flutes.

Yet with all this, they could not soften the fierceness of his heart.

For he destroyed their cities and cut down their forests.

Because Nebuchadnezzar the king had commanded him that he should destroy all the gods of the earth, so that he alone should be called God among all the heathen which were subject to the power of Holofernes.

Then he passed through Syria Zoba, and all Bamia, and all Mesopotamia, and came to the Idumeans in the land of Gaba.

And he took their cities, and stayed there thirty days, in which he commanded all the forces of his army to be gathered together.