his heart:

3:12. For he both destroyed their cities, and cut down their groves.

3:13. For Nabuchodonosor the king had commanded him to destroy all the
gods of the earth, that he only might be called God by those nations
which could be brought under him by the power of Holofernes.

3:14. And when he had passed through all Syria Sobal, and all Apamea,
and all Mesopotamia, he came to the Idumeans into the land of Gabaa,

3:15. And he took possession of their cities, and stayed there for
thirty days, in which days he commanded all the troops of his army to be
united.

Judith Chapter 4

The children of Israel prepare themselves to resist Holofernes. They cry
to the Lord for help.

4:1. Then the children of Israel, who dwelt in the land of Juda, hearing
these things, were exceedingly afraid of him.

4:2. Dread and horror seized upon their minds, lest he should do the
same to Jerusalem and to the temple of the Lord, that he had done to
other cities and their temples.

4:3. And they sent into all Samaria round about, as far as Jericho, and
seized upon all the tops of the mountains:

4:4. And they compassed their towns with walls and gathered together
corn for provision for war.

4:5. And Eliachim the priest wrote to all that were over against
Esdrelon, which faceth the great plain near Dothain, and to all by whom
there might be a passage of way, that they should take possession of the
ascents of the mountains, by which there might be any way to Jerusalem,
and should keep watch where the way was narrow between the mountains.

4:6. And the children of Israel did as the priests of the Lord Eliachim
had appointed them.

4:7. And all the people cried to the Lord with great earnestness, and
they humbled their souls in fastings, and prayers, both they and their
wives.

4:8. And the priests put on haircloths, and they caused the little
children to lie prostrate before the temple of the Lord, and the altar
of the Lord they covered with haircloth.

4:9. And they cried to the Lord the God of Israel with one accord, that
their children might not be made a prey, and their wives carried off,
and their cities destroyed, and their holy things profaned, and that
they might not be made a reproach to the Gentiles.

4:10. Then Eliachim the high priest of the Lord went about all Israel
and spoke to them,

4:11. Saying: Know ye that the Lord will hear your prayers, if you
continue with perseverance in fastings and prayers in