11. But show no mercy to any who continue to resist. Hand them over to be killed and plundered. Do this wherever you go.
12. As I live, and by the power of my kingdom, I have spoken, and I will do this with my own hand.
13. Now don’t neglect even one of your master’s commands, but carry them out exactly as I have ordered you and without delay."
14. Holofernes left the presence of his master and called together all the leaders, captains, and commanders of the Assyrian army.
15. He assembled the chosen men in divisions as his master commanded him, one hundred twenty thousand infantry and twelve thousand cavalry armed with bows.
16. He arranged them as a great army prepared for war.
17. He also took a great many camels, donkeys, and mules to carry their baggage, and countless sheep, oxen, and goats as provisions.
18. He took enough food for everyone, as well as a large quantity of gold and silver from the king’s palace.
19. Then he and his whole army set out ahead of King Nebuchadnezzar to cover the whole face of the earth to the west with their chariots, cavalry, and chosen infantry.
20. Joining them was an assorted group of people, so many that they couldn’t be numbered. They were like swarms of locusts, like the dust of the earth.
21. After marching for three days from Nineveh to the plain of Bectileth, they camped across from Bectileth near the mountain to the north of Upper Cilicia.
22. From there Holofernes took his whole army—the infantry, the cavalry, and his chariots—and he went up into the highlands.
23. He cut through Put and Lud, and looted all the people of Rassis and the Ishmaelites along the edge of the desert to the south of the Chelleans.