SO they sent ambassadors unto him to treat of peace, saying,
Behold, we the servants of Nevukadne'tstsar the great king lie before you; use us as shall be good in your sight.
Behold, our houses, and all our places, and all our fields of wheat, and flocks, and herds, and all the lodges of our tents lie before your face; use them as it please you.
Behold, even our cities and the inhabitants thereof are your servants; come and deal with them as seems good unto you.
So the men came to Holofernes, and declared unto him after this manner.
Then came he down toward the sea coast, both he and his army, and set garrisons in the high cities, and took out of them chosen men for aid.
So they and all the country round about received them with garlands, with dances, and with timbrels.
Yet he did cast down their frontiers, and cut down their Asherah poles: for he had decreed to destroy all the elohiym of the land, that all nations should worship Nevukadne'tstsar only, and that all tongues and tribes should call upon him as elohiym.
Also he came over against Yizre'el near unto Yahudah, over against the great strait of Yahudah.
And he pitched between Geva and Scythopolis, and there he tarried a whole month, that he might gather together all the carriages of his army