King James Version · Under Assyria
Judith 15
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1And when they that were in the tents heard, they were astonished at the thing that was done. 2And fear and trembling fell upon them, so that there was no man that durst in the sight of his neighbour, but rushing out all together, they fled into every way of the plain, and of the hill country. 3They also that had camped in the mountains round about fled away. Then the , every one that was a warrior among them, rushed out upon them. 4Then sent to Betomasthem, and to , and Chobai, and Cola and to all the coasts of Israel, such as should tell the things that were done, and that all should rush forth upon their to destroy them. 5Now when the heard it, they all fell upon them with one consent, and slew them unto Chobai: likewise also they that came from , and from all the hill country, (for men had told them what things were done in the camp of their ) and they that were in , and in , chased them with a great slaughter, until they were past and the borders thereof. 6And the residue that dwelt at , fell upon the camp of , and spoiled them, and were greatly enriched. 7And the that returned from the slaughter had that which remained; and the villages and the cities, that were in the mountains and in the plain, gat many spoils: for was very great. 8Then the , and the ancients of the that dwelt in , came to behold the good things that had shewed to Israel, and to see , and to salute her. 9And when they came unto her, they her with one accord, and said unto her, Thou art the exaltation of , thou art the great of Israel, thou art the great rejoicing of our nation: 10Thou hast done all these things by thine hand: thou hast done much good to Israel, and is pleased therewith: be thou of for evermore. And all the people said, So be it. 11And the people spoiled the camp the space of thirty days: and they gave unto his tent, and all his plate, and beds, and vessels, and all his stuff: and she took it and laid it on her mule; and made ready her carts, and laid them thereon. 12Then all the women of Israel ran together to see her, and her, and made a dance among them for her: and she took in her hand, and gave also to the women that were with her. 13And they put a garland of olive upon her and her maid that was with her, and she went before all the people in the dance, leading all the women: and all the men of Israel followed in their armour with garlands, and with songs in their mouths.
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.