1So they sent messengers to him with words of peace, saying,
2“Behold, we, the servants of Nebuchadnezzar the great king, are before you. Deal with us as seems good to you.
3Behold, our homesteads and every wheat field, our flocks and herds, and all the enclosures of our tents lie before you; use them as may please you.
4Behold, our cities and their inhabitants are your servants. Come and enter them as is good in your eyes.”
5And the men came to Holofernes and reported these words to him.
6And he and his army went down to the coastal region, and he garrisoned the fortified cities, and they took from them chosen men as allies.
7And they and all their surrounding region received him with wreaths, dances, and tambourines.
8And he demolished all their shrines and cut down their sacred groves. For it had been commanded to him to utterly destroy all the gods of the land, so that all the nations might worship Nebuchadnezzar alone, and all their tongues and tribes might call upon him as god.
9And he came toward Esdraelon, near Dothan, which is opposite the great saw-ridge of Judea,
10and they encamped between Geba and Scythopolis. And he was there for a month to gather all the baggage train of his army.
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