Judith 2

How to read these pages: the text itself comes first, verse by verse, in the volume's own translation. Beneath each verse stands its Meaning — a rendering of what the passage's terms name in the inner life, drawn from the correspondences the text itself uses. The text is never altered; the meaning is offered, not imposed.

King James Version

1And in the eighteenth year, the two and twentieth day of the first month, there was talk in the house of Nabuchodonosor king of the Assyrians that he should, as he said, avenge himself on all the earth.

And in the eighteenth year, the two and twentieth day of the first month, there was talk in the house of Nabuchodonosor king of the Assyrians that he should, as he said, avenge himself on all the earth — the outer world entire marked for vengeance: the grievance of one refusal grown, in the banqueting mind, to a war on everything.

2So he called unto him all his officers, and all his nobles, and communicated with them his secret counsel, and concluded the afflicting of the whole earth out of his own mouth.

So he called unto him all his officers, and all his nobles, and communicated with them his secret counsel, and concluded the afflicting of the whole earth out of his own mouth — counsel that is only one mouth speaking: the ruling state consulting its own faculties and calling the echo a council.

3Then they decreed to destroy all flesh, that did not obey the commandment of his mouth.

Then they decreed to destroy all flesh, that did not obey the commandment of his mouth — disobedience defined as the one crime, and destruction as its one sentence.

4And when he had ended his counsel, Nabuchodonosor king of the Assyrians called Holofernes the chief captain of his army, which was next unto him, and said unto him.

And when he had ended his counsel, Nabuchodonosor king of the Assyrians called Holofernes the chief captain of his army, who was next unto him, and said unto him — the commanding faculty of the empire summoned: the arm the ruling state will send where its own person does not go.

5Thus saith the great king, the lord of the whole earth, Behold, thou shalt go forth from my presence, and take with thee men that trust in their own strength, of footmen an hundred and twenty thousand; and the number of horses with their riders twelve thousand.

Thus says the great king, the lord of the whole earth: Behold, you shall go forth from my presence, and take with you men that trust in their own strength, of footmen an hundred and twenty thousand; and the number of horses with their riders twelve thousand — strength trusting in itself, numbered to the last rider: the empire's faith is arithmetic.

6And thou shalt go against all the west country, because they disobeyed my commandment.

And you shall go against all the west country, because they disobeyed my commandment — the whole west read as one act of disobedience.

7And thou shalt declare unto that they prepare for me earth and water: for I will go forth in my wrath against them and will cover the whole face of the earth with the feet of mine army, and I will give them for a spoil unto them:

And you shall declare unto them that they prepare for me earth and water — the outer realm and the unformed thoughts, surrendered in token: for I will go forth in my wrath against them and will cover the whole face of the earth — the surface of awareness of the outer world — with the feet of my army, and I will give them for a spoil unto them.

8So that their slain shall fill their valleys and brooks and the river shall be filled with their dead, till it overflow:

So that their slain shall fill their valleys — the low states — and brooks, and the river shall be filled with their dead, till it overflow — vengeance imagining the very currents of life choked with its work.

9And I will lead them captives to the utmost parts of all the earth.

And I will lead them captives to the utmost parts of all the earth — captivity, consciousness carried away into a foreign ruling state, threatened to the utmost parts.

10Thou therefore shalt go forth, and take beforehand for me all their coasts: and if they will yield themselves unto thee, thou shalt reserve them for me till the day of their punishment.

Thou therefore shalt go forth, and take beforehand for me all their coasts; and if they will yield themselves unto thee, thou shalt reserve them for me till the day of their punishment — surrender itself only deferred to a day of punishment: the empire offering no true mercy even to compliance.

11But concerning them that rebel, let not thine eye spare them; but put them to the slaughter, and spoil them wheresoever thou goest.

But concerning them that rebel, let not thine eye spare them; but put them to the slaughter, and spoil them wheresoever thou goest — the command stripping pity out of the captain's eye before he marches.

12For as I live, and by the power of my kingdom, whatsoever I have spoken, that will I do by mine hand.

For as I live, and by the power of my kingdom, whatsoever I have spoken, that will I do by mine hand — the oath sworn by the speaker's own power: the ruling state its own god, in the form of a sentence.

13And take thou heed that thou transgress none of the commandments of thy lord, but accomplish them fully, as I have commanded thee, and defer not to do them.

And take thou heed that thou transgress none of the commandments of thy lord, but accomplish them fully, as I have commanded thee, and defer not to do them — obedience demanded downward with the same absoluteness claimed upward: the chain of the empire complete.

14Then Holofernes went forth from the presence of his lord, and called all the governors and captains, and the officers of the army of Assur;

Then Holofernes went forth from the presence of his lord, and called all the governors and captains, and the officers of the army of Assur — the command descending through every grade of the host.

15And he mustered the chosen men for the battle, as his lord had commanded him, unto an hundred and twenty thousand, and twelve thousand archers on horseback;

And he mustered the chosen men for the battle, as his lord had commanded him, unto an hundred and twenty thousand, and twelve thousand archers on horseback — the numbers of the mouth becoming the numbers of the muster: nothing lost between decree and array.

16And he ranged them, as a great army is ordered for the war.

And he ranged them, as a great army is ordered for the war — the outer order perfect: every faculty of the empire in its rank, awaiting only a soul it does not have.

17And he took camels and asses for their carriages, a very great number; and sheep and oxen and goats without number for their provision:

And he took camels and asses for their carriages, a very great number; and sheep and oxen and goats without number for their provision — the serving powers and tamed affections of the empire driven along as its provision: the host feeding on the flock it carries.

18And plenty of victual for every man of the army, and very much gold and silver out of the king’s house.

And plenty of victual for every man of the army, and very much gold and silver out of the king's house — provision and treasure drawn from the ruling state's own house: the war funded by the throne it defends.

19Then he went forth and all his power to go before king Nabuchodonosor in the voyage, and to cover all the face of the earth westward with their chariots, and horsemen, and their chosen footmen.

Then he went forth and all his power to go before king Nabuchodonosor in the voyage, and to cover all the face of the earth westward with their chariots, and horsemen, and their chosen footmen — the host going forth as the king's advance presence: the face of the outer world to be covered by proxy.

20A great number also sundry countries came with them like locusts, and like the sand of the earth: for the multitude was without number.

A great number also of sundry countries came with them like locusts, and like the sand of the earth: for the multitude was without number — the gathered states beyond counting, likened to the swarm and the shore: multitude itself become a weapon.

21And they went forth of Nineve three days’ journey toward the plain of Bectileth, and pitched from Bectileth near the mountain which is at the left hand of the upper Cilicia.

And they went forth of Nineve three days' journey toward the plain of Bectileth, and pitched from Bectileth near the mountain — the exalted state — which is at the left hand of the upper Cilicia.

22Then he took all his army, his footmen, and horsemen and chariots, and went from thence into the hill country;

Then he took all his army, his footmen, and horsemen and chariots, and went from thence into the hill country — the host ascending into the high states, where the war will be decided.

23And destroyed Phud and Lud, and spoiled all the children of Rasses, and the children of Ismael, which were toward the wilderness at the south of the land of the Chellians.

And destroyed Phud and Lud, and spoiled all the children of Rasses, and the children of Ismael — Ishmael, the wild-man state: natural desire, heard by God, blessed, but not the heir — who were toward the wilderness — the untended waste-state of consciousness — at the south of the land of the Chellians.

24Then he went over Euphrates, and went through Mesopotamia, and destroyed all the high cities that were upon the river Arbonai, till ye come to the sea.

Then he went over Euphrates — the great river of life-consciousness — and went through Mesopotamia, and destroyed all the high cities that were upon the river Arbonai, till you come to the sea — the great current crossed, and every heightened state along the lesser current broken.

25And he took the borders of Cilicia, and killed all that resisted him, and came to the borders of Japheth, which were toward the south, over against Arabia.

And he took the borders of Cilicia, and killed all that resisted him, and came to the borders of Japheth — Japheth, the expanding intellect, widening into the outer world — which were toward the south, over against Arabia.

26He compassed also all the children of Madian, and burned up their tabernacles, and spoiled their sheepcotes.

He compassed also all the children of Madian, and burned up their tabernacles — the structured dwellings of the Presence in their camp, here the pitched shelters of a wandering state — and spoiled their sheepcotes.

27Then he went down into the plain of Damascus in the time of wheat harvest, and burnt up all their fields, and destroyed their flocks and herds, also he spoiled their cities, and utterly wasted their countries, and smote all their young men with the edge of the sword.

Then he went down into the plain of Damascus in the time of wheat harvest, and burnt up all their fields, and destroyed their flocks and herds, also he spoiled their cities, and utterly wasted their countries, and smote all their young men with the edge of the sword — the cutting word in the empire's hand: harvest burned at harvest-time, the state's future cut down with its present.

28Therefore the fear and dread of him fell upon all the inhabitants of the sea coasts, which were in Sidon and Tyrus, and them that dwelt in Sur and Ocina, and all that dwelt in Jemnaan; and they that dwelt in Azotus and Ascalon feared him greatly.

Therefore the fear and dread of him fell upon all the inhabitants of the sea coasts, who were in Sidon and Tyrus, and them that dwelt in Sur and Ocina, and all that dwelt in Jemnaan; and they that dwelt in Azotus and Ascalon feared him greatly — fear doing the empire's advance work: whole coasts conquered in the mind before a sword arrives.

Companion volume to The Why Bible — the King James Apocrypha, rendered in its spiritual meanings. First final edition, October 2026.