14. They and their wives and children will languish with hunger, and even before the sword strikes them they will be laid low in the streets where they live.
15. Thus you will render them dire punishment for their rebellion and their refusal to meet you peacefully.”
16. Their words pleased Holofernes and all his attendants, and he ordered their proposal to be carried out.
17. So the Ammonites moved camp, together with five thousand Assyrians. They encamped in the valley and held the water supply and the springs of the Israelites.
18. The Edomites and the Ammonites went up and encamped in the hill country opposite Dothan; and they sent some of their men to the southeast opposite Egrebel, near Chusi, which is on Wadi Mochmur. The rest of the Assyrian army was encamped in the plain, covering all the land. Their tents and equipment were spread out in profusion everywhere, and they formed a vast multitude.
19. The Israelites cried to the Lord, their God, for they were disheartened, since all their enemies had them surrounded, and there was no way of escaping from them.
20. The whole Assyrian army, infantry, chariots, and cavalry, kept them thus surrounded for thirty-four days. All the reservoirs of water failed the inhabitants of Bethulia,