Judith 5

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

1Then was it declared to Holofernes, the chief captain of the army of Assur, that the children of Israel had prepared for war, and had shut up the passages of the hill country, and had fortified all the tops of the high hills and had laid impediments in the champaign countries:

Then was it declared to Holofernes, the chief captain of the army of Assur, that the children of Israel had prepared for war, and had shut up the passages of the hill country, and had fortified all the tops of the high hills and had laid impediments in the champaign countries — the report of resistance reaching the captain: one people, alone in the west, preparing instead of surrendering.

2Wherewith he was very angry, and called all the princes of Moab, and the captains of Ammon, and all the governors of the sea coast,

Wherewith he was very angry, and called all the princes of Moab, and the captains of Ammon, and all the governors of the sea coast — anger convening an inquiry: the empire asking its subject states to explain the one state it does not understand.

3And he said unto them, Tell me now, ye sons of Chanaan, who this people is, that dwelleth in the hill country, and what are the cities that they inhabit, and what is the multitude of their army, and wherein is their power and strength, and what king is set over them, or captain of their army;

And he said unto them: Tell me now, you sons of Chanaan, who this people is, that dwells in the hill country, and what are the cities that they inhabit, and what is the multitude of their army, and wherein is their power and strength, and what king is set over them, or captain of their army — the questions all of number and force: the empire's catechism, unable to ask the one question that matters.

4And why have they determined not to come and meet me, more than all the inhabitants of the west.

And why have they determined not to come and meet me, more than all the inhabitants of the west — the true offence named: not rebellion of arms, but refusal to come out and surrender.

5Then said Achior, the captain of all the sons of Ammon, Let my lord now hear a word from the mouth of thy servant, and I will declare unto thee the truth concerning this people, which dwelleth near thee, and inhabiteth the hill countries: and there shall no lie come out of the mouth of thy servant.

Then said Achior, the captain of all the sons of Ammon: Let my lord now hear a word from the mouth of your servant, and I will declare unto you the truth concerning this people, who dwells near you, and inhabits the hill countries; and there shall no lie come out of the mouth of your servant — truth volunteering itself inside the council of the empire, at its speaker's peril.

6This people are descended of the Chaldeans:

This people are descended of the Chaldeans — the history begun at the root: a people defined, from the first, by a departure.

7And they sojourned heretofore in Mesopotamia, because they would not follow the gods of their fathers, which were in the land of Chaldea.

And they sojourned heretofore in Mesopotamia, because they would not follow the gods of their fathers, which were in the land of Chaldea — the first act of the nation a refusal of inherited images: formed images of lesser goods, declined.

8For they left the way of their ancestors, and worshipped the God of heaven, the God whom they knew: so they cast them out from the face of their gods, and they fled into Mesopotamia, and sojourned there many days.

For they left the way of their ancestors, and worshipped the God of heaven — the Source of the inner realm — the God whom they knew; so they cast them out from the face of their gods, and they fled into Mesopotamia, and sojourned there many days — fidelity answered with expulsion: the pattern of the whole history set in its first chapter.

9Then their God commanded them to depart from the place where they sojourned, and to go into the land of Chanaan: where they dwelt, and were increased with gold and silver, and with very much cattle.

Then their God commanded them to depart from the place where they sojourned, and to go into the land of Chanaan — Canaan, the promised consciousness, the land of realised substance — where they dwelt, and were increased with gold and silver, and with very much cattle.

10But when a famine covered all the land of Chanaan, they went down into Egypt, and sojourned there, while they were nourished, and became there a great multitude, so that one could not number their nation.

But when a famine — the lack-state — covered all the land of Chanaan, they went down into Egypt — the material sense-realm — and sojourned there, while they were nourished, and became there a great multitude, so that one could not number their nation: the sense-realm feeding the promise, and the promise multiplying inside the feeding.

11Therefore the king of Egypt rose up against them, and dealt subtilly with them, and brought them low with labouring in brick, and made them slaves.

Therefore the king of Egypt rose up against them, and dealt subtilly with them, and brought them low with labouring in brick, and made them slaves — Pharaoh, the enthroned sense-mind of the material world, turning nourishment into bondage when the guests grew many.

12Then they cried unto their God, and he smote all the land of Egypt with incurable plagues: so the Egyptians cast them out of their sight.

Then they cried unto their God, and He smote all the land of Egypt with incurable plagues; so the Egyptians cast them out of their sight — the cry answered, and the bondage broken from within the realm that imposed it.

13And God dried the Red sea before them,

And God dried the Red Sea before them — the sea of sense-life at the edge of bondage, divided so the house passes through.

14And brought them to mount Sina, and Cades-Barne, and cast forth all that dwelt in the wilderness.

And brought them to mount Sina — Sinai, the mount of the law's giving, the exalted state where the order is thundered into form — and Cades-Barne, and cast forth all that dwelt in the wilderness — the untended waste-state where the house is tested and formed.

15So they dwelt in the land of the Amorites, and they destroyed by their strength all them of Esebon, and passing over Jordan they possessed all the hill country.

So they dwelt in the land of the Amorites, and they destroyed by their strength all them of Esebon, and passing over Jordan — the descending river of life at the border of the promise — they possessed all the hill country.

16And they cast forth before them the Chanaanite, the Pherezite, the Jebusite, and the Sychemite, and all the Gergesites, and they dwelt in that country many days.

And they cast forth before them the Chanaanite, the Pherezite, the Jebusite, and the Sychemite, and all the Gergesites, and they dwelt in that country many days — the promised consciousness possessed faculty by faculty, as the lexicon of the land requires.

17And whilst they sinned not before their God, they prospered, because the God that hateth iniquity was with them.

And whilst they sinned not before their God, they prospered, because the God that hates iniquity was with them — the law of the history stated plainly: prosperity following right relation, as effect follows cause.

18But when they departed from the way which he appointed them, they were destroyed in many battles very sore, and were led captives into a land that was not theirs, and the temple of their God was cast to the ground, and their cities were taken by the enemies.

But when they departed from the way which He appointed them, they were destroyed in many battles very sore, and were led captives into a land that was not theirs, and the temple of their God was cast to the ground, and their cities were taken by the enemies — the converse stated as plainly: departure from the order delivering the state, by its own logic, into captivity.

19But now are they returned to their God, and are come up from the places where they were scattered, and have possessed Jerusalem, where their sanctuary is, and are seated in the hill country; for it was desolate.

But now are they returned to their God, and are come up from the places where they were scattered, and have possessed Jerusalem — the established center of spiritual consciousness — where their sanctuary is, and are seated in the hill country; for it was desolate — the return as recent as the desolation it repaired.

20Now therefore, my lord and governor, if there be any error against this people, and they sin against their God, let us consider that this shall be their ruin, and let us go up, and we shall overcome them.

Now therefore, my lord and governor, if there be any error against this people, and they sin against their God, let us consider that this shall be their ruin, and let us go up, and we shall overcome them — counsel in the empire's own interest: the one condition under which the host can win, named honestly.

21But if there be no iniquity in their nation, let my lord now pass by, lest their Lord defend them, and their God be for them, and we become a reproach before all the world.

But if there be no iniquity in their nation, let my lord now pass by, lest their Lord defend them, and their God be for them, and we become a reproach before all the world — the alternative named as plainly: a defended people, and an empire made a proverb.

22And when Achior had finished these sayings, all the people standing round about the tent murmured, and the chief men of Holofernes, and all that dwelt by the sea side, and in Moab, spake that he should kill him.

And when Achior had finished these sayings, all the people standing round about the tent murmured, and the chief men of Holofernes, and all that dwelt by the sea side, and in Moab, spoke that he should kill him — truth's reception in the council: the murmur, and the demand for the speaker's death.

23For, say they, we will not be afraid of the face of the children of Israel: for, lo, it is a people that have no strength nor power for a strong battle

For, say they, we will not be afraid of the face of the children of Israel; for, lo, it is a people that have no strength nor power for a strong battle — the council answering history with arithmetic, as empires do.

24Now therefore, lord Holofernes, we will go up, and they shall be a prey to be devoured of all thine army.

Now therefore, lord Holofernes, we will go up, and they shall be a prey to be devoured of all your army — the vote carried by appetite: the hill country already devoured in the imagination.

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