King James Version · Under Assyria
Judith 10
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1Now after that she had ceased to cry unto the of Israel, and had made an end of all these words. 2She rose where she had fallen down, and called her maid, and went down into the house in the which she abode in the days, and in her feast days, 3And pulled off the which she had on, and put off the garments of her widowhood, and washed her body all over with water, and herself with precious ointment, and braided the hair of her head, and put on a tire upon it, and put on her garments of gladness, wherewith she was clad during the life of her husband. 4And she took upon her feet, and put about her her bracelets, and her chains, and her rings, and her earrings, and all her ornaments, and decked herself bravely, to allure the eyes of all men that should see her. 5Then she gave her maid a bottle of , and a cruse of oil, and filled a bag with parched corn, and lumps of figs, and with fine bread; so she folded all these things together, and laid them upon her. 6Thus they went forth to the of , and found standing there and the ancients of the city, Chabris and Charmis. 7And when they saw her, that her countenance was altered, and her apparel was changed, they wondered at her beauty very greatly, and said unto her. 8The , the of our fathers give thee , and accomplish thine enterprizes to the of the , and to the exaltation of . Then they . 9And she said unto them, Command the of the city to be opened unto me, that I may go forth to accomplish the things whereof ye have spoken with me. So they commanded the young men to open unto her, as she had spoken. 10And when they had done so, went out, she, and her maid with her; and the men of the city looked after her, until she was gone down the mountain, and till she had passed the valley, and could see her no more. 11Thus they went straight forth in the valley: and the first watch of the met her, 12And took her, and asked her, Of what people art thou? and whence comest thou? and whither goest thou? And she said, I am a woman of the , and am fled from them: for they shall be given you to be consumed: 13And I am coming before the chief captain of your army, to declare words of truth; and I will shew him a way, whereby he shall go, and win all the hill country, without losing the body or life of any one of his men. 14Now when the men heard her words, and beheld her countenance, they wondered greatly at her beauty, and said unto her, 15Thou hast thy life, in that thou hast hasted to come down to the of our : now therefore come to his tent, and some of us shall conduct thee, until they have thee to his hands. 16And when thou standest before him, be not afraid in thine , but shew unto him according to thy word; and he will entreat thee well. 17Then they chose out of them an hundred men to accompany her and her maid; and they brought her to the tent of . 18Then was there a concourse throughout all the camp: for her coming was noised among the tents, and they came about her, as she stood without the tent of , till they told him of her. 19And they wondered at her beauty, and admired the because of her, and every one said to his neighbour, Who would despise this people, that have among them such women? surely it is not good that one man of them be left who being let go might deceive the whole earth. 20And they that lay near went out, and all his servants and they brought her into the tent. 21Now rested upon his bed under a canopy, which was woven with purple, and gold, and emeralds, and precious stones. 22So they shewed him of her; and he came out before his tent with silver lamps going before him. 23And when was come before him and his servants they all marvelled at the beauty of her countenance; and she fell down upon her , and did reverence unto him: and his servants took her up.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Under Assyria, 745 BC to 612 BC ›
Assyria at full stretch, deporting whole populations as policy. The northern kingdom is destroyed in 722 BC and Judah survives as a tribute-paying vassal.
- Assyria
- The first empire to run mass deportation as ordinary administration: move the leadership somewhere else, settle strangers in their place, and the province stops being a nation. It worked. Samaria fell in 722 BC and the northern tribes did not come back. Assyria also advertised its cruelty deliberately, carving flayings and impalements on palace walls where envoys would see them, because terror is cheaper than garrisons.
- Judah
- Survives by paying. Hezekiah rebels, Sennacherib takes forty-six Judean towns and besieges Jerusalem in 701 BC, and the city holds. The Assyrian account boasts of shutting Hezekiah up like a bird in a cage and pointedly does not claim to have taken the city, which is one of the more interesting silences in ancient records.
- Egypt
- The splintered reed of a staff that Assyria's field commander mocks Judah for leaning on. It promises help and cannot deliver, and Isaiah spends decades saying so. Assyria eventually invades and sacks Thebes.
- Further afield
- Greece is in its archaic period, founding colonies from Spain to the Black Sea. Rome is under kings. Assyria's own libraries are collecting the literature of Mesopotamia, which is how Gilgamesh survived to be read again in the nineteenth century.