Judith · WEB-C

Judith

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And they sent to him messengers with words of peace, saying, “Behold, we the servants of Nebuchadnezzar the great king lie before you. Use us as it is pleasing in your sight. Behold, our dwellings, and all our country, and all our fields of wheat, and our flocks and herds, and all the sheepfolds of our tents, lie before your face. Use them as it may please you. Behold, even our cities and those who dwell in them are your servants. Come and deal with them as it is good in your eyes.” So the men came to Holofernes, and declared to him according to these words. He came down toward the sea coast, he and his army, and set garrisons in the high cities, and took out of them chosen men for allies. They received him, they and all the country round about them, with garlands and dances and timbrels. He cast down all their borders, and cut down their sacred groves. It had been given to him to destroy all the gods of the land, that all the nations would worship Nebuchadnezzar only, and that all their tongues and their tribes would call upon him as a god. Then he came toward Esdraelon near to Dotaea, which is opposite the great ridge of Judea. He encamped between Geba and Scythopolis. He was there a whole month, that he might gather together all the baggage of his army.

Notes · Haydock (1859, public domain)8 notes

Notes in English 19th-century Catholic commentary by Fr. George Leo Haydock, shown as published.

These notes keep the polemics of their time: some speak harshly of the Jewish people or of other Christians. The Church teaches otherwise today. The Jewish people may not be blamed for the death of Christ (Nostra Aetate 4; Catechism 597–598), and Christians of other communities are our brothers and sisters in the Lord (Unitatis Redintegratio 3). Christian unity

Judith 3:1

Ver. 1. Kings. Gr. "they sent to him ambassadors, with proposals for peace, saying: Behold we, the servants of Nabuchodonosor, the great king, lay before thee; use us as thou thinkest best," &c.

These proposals were made by those on the sea-coast, from Sidon and Tyre to Ascalon, from whom Holofernes took "the choicest men," being received with honour, v. 10. H. --- Syria, &c.

These are not specified in the Greek. --- Sobal, or Soba, (1 K. xiv. 47.) near Damascus, where Ptolemy (v.) places Samoulis. --- Lybia seems too remote, and had not been attacked: some therefore would read Lycia, or Lygia, (Herod.

vii. 72.) or rather Lydia, (C.) which Holofernes had

"cut in pieces," according to the Greek. C. ii. 13. H.

↑ 1

Judith 3:2

Ver. 2. Great. This was his usual title. Dan. ii. 30. 4 K. xviii. 19. C. --- Slavery. Yet they make an unconditional submission. H. --- It is better for us to submit to servitude than to be slaughtered like our brethren. M.

↑ 2

Judith 3:3

Ver. 3. Sight, at thy disposal. Gen. xiii. 9. Prov. xv. 11.

↑ 3

Judith 3:10

Ver. 10. Lights. Torches were used to testify joy. 2 Mac. iv. 22.

↑ 10

Judith 3:11

Ver. 11. Though. Greek, "He demolished all their borders, and cut down their groves."

↑ 11

Judith 3:13

This 19th-century note uses polemical language; read it in the light of the note at the top of this panel.

Ver. 13. Called. Gr. "Worshipped by all nations, and that all their tongues and tribes might call him god." H. --- Behold to what lengths ambition may be carried. If he had only claimed a place among the other pagan deities, his title was as good as theirs. C. --- He is a figure of Antichrist; for whom all heretics pave the way. 2 Thes. ii. W.

↑ 13

Judith 3:14

Ver. 14. Apamea, on the river Orontes, between which and the river Eleutherus, lay the Mesopotamia here mentioned. --- Idumeans, or to "Rama," near Gabaa, which was on the north of Jerusalem; whereas Idumea lay far to the south. C.

--- Yet (H.) Gabaa may designate a mountainous country, as 1 K. vii. 1. (M.) and there is no reason why Idumea might not have felt the power of Holofernes, as well as Madian, &c. H. --- The order of conquests in not observed, (M.) for while the commander-in-chief was in one place, his generals were dispersed into different parts. He had now advanced as far as Gabaa of Saul, (H.) when meditating a serious attack upon Egypt, he thought proper to concentrate his forces; little expecting to meet with such a check at Bethulia. C. --- Gr. "He came to Esdrelon, near Dotaia, (or Dothaim, north of Sichem) which is opposite the great saw of Judea," or the range of mountains of Ephraim. C. ---

Old Vulg.

"of Juda," dividing it from Idumea. The kings of Israel had fortified the defiles.

3 K. xv. 17.

↑ 14

Judith 3:15

Ver. 15. Took. Gr. "encamped between Gaba and Scythopolis, (Bethsan. Jos.

xvii. 11.) and he was there a month of days, to collect all the burden of his army."

↑ 15

License: Notes by Fr. George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), from the Douay-Rheims Bible with Haydock's commentary (first ed. Thomas Haydock, Manchester/Dublin, 1811–1814; New York: Edward Dunigan & Brother, 1859); New Testament notes compiled with Fr. Benedict Rayment. Public domain. Digital text: "The Haydock Bible", Internet Archive (archive.org/details/TheHaydockBible), uploaded 2011 under the Public Domain Mark. · Credits and licenses

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