1 So they sent ambassadors unto him to treat of peace, saying, 2 Behold, we the servants of Nabuchodonosor the great king lie before thee; use us as shall be good in thy sight. 3 Behold, our houses, and all our places, and all our fields of wheat, and flocks, and herds, and all the lodges of our tents, lie before thy face; use them as it pleaseth thee. 4 Behold, even our cities and the inhabitants thereof are thy servants; come and deal with them as seemeth good unto thee.

5 So the men came to Holofernes, and declared unto him after this manner. 6 Then came he down toward the sea coast, both he and his army, and set garrisons in the high cities, and took out of them chosen men for aid. 7 So they and all the country round about received him with garlands, with dances, and with timbrels. 8 Yet he did cast down their frontiers, and cut down their groves: for he had decreed to destroy all the gods of the land, that all nations should worship Nabuchodonosor only, and that all tongues and tribes should call upon him as a god.

9 Also he came over against Esdraelon near unto Judea, over against the great strait of Judea. 10 And he pitched between Geba and Scythopolis, and there he tarried a whole month, that he might gather together all the carriages of his army.