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1The next day Holofernes ordered his whole army and all the reserve troops who had joined him to break camp and march against Bethulia. He told them to take over the mountain passes as the first step in their attack on the Israelites.
2The army began to march that very day; it numbered at 148,000 foot soldiers and 12,000 horsemen, not counting the baggage carts and the soldiers handling the supplies.
3They set up camp in the valley near Bethulia beside the spring. They covered the whole land from Dothan to Balbaim and from Bethulia to Cyamon, which faces Esdraelon.
4When the Israelites saw this huge army, they were terrified and said to each other, “They will strip the whole land clean. The mountains, valleys, and hills cannot bear their weight.”
5Yet they all took up their weapons and lit fires on their towers, where they remained on guard all night.
6On the second day Holofernes led all his horsemen out in full view of the Israelites in Bethulia.
7He scouted out the slopes leading up to the town and located the springs that supplied their water. So he took control of these springs and set guards of soldiers over them. Then he returned to his army.
8Then all the leaders of the Edomites and the Moabites and the commanders of the coastal area came to him and said,
9“Listen to what we have to say, our master, and your army will suffer no casualties.
10These Israelites do not have to rely on their spears, for they live in safety in the high mountains.
11Therefore, master, you do not have to fight against them in the normal way, and you will not lose a single man of your army.
12Simply stay in your camp and keep all your forces with you. Let your men keep control of the spring of water at the foot of the mountain,
13for this is where all the people of Bethulia get their water. Eventually their thirst will force them to surrender their town. Meanwhile, we and our people will go up to the tops of the nearest mountains. We will camp there to keep watch and to prevent anyone from leaving the town.
14All the men, women, and children will waste away from thirst, and you won’t even need to attack them. Their bodies will be scattered about in the streets outside their houses.
15Thus, you will pay them back for their defiance and for refusing to receive you peaceably.”
16This suggestion pleased Holofernes and all his officers, and he gave orders to do as they had said.
17So the army of the Ammonites moved forward along with five thousand Assyrians. They set up camp in the valley and seized the Israelites’ water sources and springs.
18Meanwhile, the Edomites and Ammonites went up and camped in the hill country opposite Dothan. They sent some of their men southeast toward Acraba, near Chusi, which is beside Mochmur Brook. The rest of the Assyrian army camped in the plain. Their tents and supply wagons spread out in great numbers, and they covered the entire area.
19The Israelites lost their courage and cried out to the Lord their God for help. All their enemies had surrounded them, and there was no way of escape.
20The whole Assyrian army, including their foot soldiers, chariots, and horsemen, surrounded them for thirty-four days. Eventually, all the water jars of every house in Bethulia became empty.
21Their cisterns were going dry, and no one had enough water to drink, for their water was rationed.
22The children wasted away, and the women and young men, faint from thirst, were collapsing in the streets of the town and in the gateways. No one had any strength left.
23Then all the people—including the young men, the women, and the children—gathered around Uzziah and the rulers of the town. They shouted at the elders,
24“Let God judge between you and us! We are suffering because you wouldn’t make peace with the Assyrians.
25Now we have no one to help us. God has handed us over to them, thirsty and helpless.
26Call them immediately, and surrender the whole town as a prize to the army of Holofernes,
27for it would be better for us to be captured by them. We will be forced to become their slaves, but at least our lives will be spared. And we won’t have to see our infants dying before our eyes or see our wives and children taking their last breath.
28We call on heaven and earth and God to be our witnesses. The Lord of our ancestors is punishing us for our sins and the sins of our ancestors. Do what we have asked for today!”
29Then the entire assembly began to weep, and they cried out to the Lord God with a loud voice.
30But Uzziah said to them, “Take heart, my brothers and sisters. Let’s hold out for five more days. By then the Lord our God will show us his mercy again, for he will not completely forsake us.[#7:30 Greek Courage, brothers.]
31But if no help comes during that time, I will do as you say.”
32Then he dismissed the people to their various quarters. The men returned to their stations on the walls and towers of the town. The women and children went home. And everyone in the town was miserable and discouraged.