章节研读
Wisdom 2 — Holofernes' Campaign Against the West
Nebuchadnezzar commissions Holofernes to punish the nations of the west, and the Assyrian campaign sweeps through the region leaving fear in its wake before reaching the borders of Israel.
经文
- 1.对西方的征讨 在十八年，正月二十二日，亚述王尼布甲尼撒的宫中有人议论要对整个地区施行报复，就像他所说的那样。The Expedition against the West In the eighteenth year, on the twenty-second day of the first month, there was talk in the palace of Nebuchadnez′zar king of the Assyrians about carrying out his revenge on the whole region, just as he said.
- 2.他召集所有的官员和所有的贵族，将自己的秘密计划向他们说明，并亲口详细讲述了该地区的一切邪恶；He called together all his officers and all his nobles and set forth to them his secret plan and recounted fully, with his own lips, all the wickedness of the region;
- 3.于是决定，凡不听从他命令的人都要被毁灭。and it was decided that every one who had not obeyed his command should be destroyed.
- 4.他一说完自己的计划，亚述王尼布甲尼撒就叫来他的大将何罗孚尼，是仅次于他本人的军队统帅，对他说When he had finished setting forth his plan, Nebuchadnez′zar king of the Assyrians called Holofer′nes, the chief general of his army, second only to himself, and said to him,
- 5.“大王、全地的主这样说：你离开我面前的时候，要带上一百二十千步兵和一万二千骑兵，他们都信任自己的力量。“Thus says the Great King, the lord of the whole earth: When you leave my presence, take with you men confident in their strength, to the number of one hundred and twenty thousand foot soldiers and twelve thousand cavalry.
- 6.前往并攻击整个西方国家，因为他们违背了我的命令。Go and attack the whole west country, because they disobeyed my orders.
- 7.告诉他们要准备好土和水，因为我要在我的愤怒中来攻击他们，并要用我的军队的脚踏遍整个大地，并要将他们交给我的军队任意掠夺，Tell them to prepare earth and water, for I am coming against them in my anger, and will cover the whole face of the earth with the feet of my armies, and will hand them over to be plundered by my troops,
- 8.直到他们的伤者充满了他们的山谷，每一条小河和大河都充满了他们的尸体，并且溢满；till their wounded shall fill their valleys, and every brook and river shall be filled with their dead, and overflow;
- 9.我必将他们掳到全地的尽头。and I will lead them away captive to the ends of the whole earth.
- 10.你要去为我预先占领他们的所有领地，他们必投降于你，你要替我保守他们，直到他们受审的日子。You shall go and seize all their territory for me in advance. They will yield themselves to you, and you shall hold them for me till the day of their punishment.
- 11.但若他们拒绝，你的眼不可饶恕他们，要将他们交给杀戮和掠夺，在你所有的境内。But if they refuse, your eye shall not spare and you shall hand them over to slaughter and plunder throughout your whole region.
- 12.我尚存活，凭着我的国权，所说的话我的手必成就。For as I live, and by the power of my kingdom, what I have spoken my hand will execute.
- 13.你们要谨慎，不可违背你们王上的任何命令，务必按照我所吩咐的去做，不要延迟。And you—take care not to transgress any of your sovereign’s commands, but be sure to carry them out just as I have ordered you; and do not delay about it.”
- 14.荷罗孚尼的战役 如此，荷罗孚尼离开他主人的面前，聚集了所有的军事首领、将军和亚述军队的官员，Campaign of Holofernes So Holofer′nes left the presence of his master, and called together all the commanders, generals, and officers of the Assyrian army,
- 15.并按照主人的命令，按照部队编制，聚集了精锐的士兵，一共十二万人，还有马背上的一万二千名弓箭手，and mustered the picked troops by divisions as his lord had ordered him to do, one hundred and twenty thousand of them, together with twelve thousand archers on horseback,
- 16.他把他们组织起来，如同一支大军准备出征。and he organized them as a great army is marshaled for a campaign.
- 17.他收集了大量的骆驼、驴和骡子用于运输，以及无数的羊、牛和山羊用于供应；He collected a vast number of camels and asses and mules for transport, and innumerable sheep and oxen and goats for provision;
- 18.还有足够每个人吃的食物，并且有大量从皇宫里得来的金银。also plenty of food for every man, and a huge amount of gold and silver from the royal palace.
- 19.于是，他率领整个军队出发，在尼布甲尼撒王之前，向西用战车、骑兵和精锐的步兵覆盖大地的全面。So he set out with his whole army, to go ahead of King Nebuchadnez′zar and to cover the whole face of the earth to the west with their chariots and horsemen and picked troops of infantry.
- 20.他们一起去的，还有混杂的群众，如同蝗虫一般，如同地上的尘土——不能数计的众人。Along with them went a mixed crowd like a swarm of locusts, like the dust of the earth—a multitude that could not be counted.
- 21.他们从尼尼微出发，行军三天，到了伯提利的平原，在伯提利附近的山上扎营，这座山位于上基利家北边。They marched for three days from Nin′eveh to the plain of Becti′leth, and camped opposite Becti′leth near the mountain which is to the north of Upper Cili′cia.
- 22.从那里，荷罗孚尼进军全军，包括步兵、骑兵和战车，向山地进发From there Holofer′nes took his whole army, his infantry, cavalry, and chariots, and went up into the hill country
- 23.以及普特和路德，掠夺了拉西斯人和以斯马利人所有的民众，他们住在基列人南方的沙漠里。and ravaged Put and Lud, and plundered all the people of Rassis and the Ish′maelites who lived along the desert, south of the country of the Chel′leans.
- 24.然后他沿着幼发拉底河，穿过美索不达米亚，毁灭了阿伯隆小河旁所有的山顶城市，直到海边。Then he followed the Euphra′tes and passed through Mesopota′mia and destroyed all the hilltop cities along the brook Abron, as far as the sea.
- 25.他还占领了基利家地区，杀死所有抵抗他的人，来到了雅弗的南部边界，面对阿拉伯。He also seized the territory of Cili′cia, and killed every one who resisted him, and came to the southern borders of Japheth, fronting toward Arabia.
- 26.他包围了所有米甸人，烧毁了他们的帐篷，掠夺了他们的羊圈。He surrounded all the Mid′ianites, and burned their tents and plundered their sheepfolds.
- 27.他便下到大马色平原，在收麦的时候，烧毁了他们所有的田地，杀死了他们所有的牛羊，抢掠了他们所有的城市，毁坏了他们所有的土地，并用刀杀死了他们所有的年轻人。Then he went down into the plain of Damas′cus during the wheat harvest, and burned all their fields and destroyed their flocks and herds and sacked their cities and ravaged their lands and put to death all their young men with the edge of the sword.
- 28.他所到之处，沿海一带的居民，西顿人，推罗人，苏尔人，阿基士人，和雅米尼亚的所有居民，都非常惧怕他。住在阿索都和亚实基伦的人也极其惧怕他。So fear and terror of him fell upon all the people who lived along the seacoast, at Sidon and Tyre, and those who lived in Sur and Oci′na and all who lived in Jam′nia. Those who lived in Azo′tus and As′calon feared him exceedingly.
这段经文的意思
Chapter 2 reads as the military prelude to the book of Judith. It has two clearly labeled sections: 'The Expedition against the West' (vv. 1–13), in which Nebuchadnezzar issues his orders, and 'Campaign of Holofernes' (vv. 14–28), which narrates their execution. The chapter names no specific sin for the targeted peoples beyond disobedience — 'they disobeyed my orders' (v. 6) — and frames the campaign as a punitive sweep carried out by decree of a self-styled 'Great King, the lord of the whole earth' (v. 5), a title that already hints at the theological challenge posed in the rest of the book.
The scale of the operation is conveyed through large round figures: one hundred and twenty thousand foot soldiers, twelve thousand cavalry, countless transport animals, and provisions drawn from the royal treasury (vv. 15, 17–18). The description of the accompanying rabble as 'a swarm of locusts' or 'the dust of the earth' (v. 20) establishes the army as an almost natural disaster, an unstoppable tide. The advance itself is traced through recognizable geography — from Nineveh through Cilicia, Put, Lud, Mesopotamia, down to Damascus and the Mediterranean coast (vv. 21–28) — moving the reader toward Israel from chapter 3 onward.
Verses 1–12 set the moral tone. The king swears by his own life and by 'the power of my kingdom' that his hand will execute his word (v. 12), and the commander is warned not to 'transgress' the sovereign's commands (v. 13). This concentration on human power and obedience prepares the contrast that the rest of the book will draw between the self-exalting empire and the God worshiped by Judith and her people.
背景
The chapter stands at the opening of the Judith narrative: the title 'Expedition against the West' presupposes an immediate prior setting, and 'Campaign of Holofernes' introduces the army whose assault on Israel Judith will resist. The closing line — that fear fell upon Sidon, Tyre, Sur, Ocina, Jamnia, Azotus, and Ascalon (v. 28) — leaves the campaign advancing toward the remaining coastal peoples and, by implication, toward Judea.
The provided material itself describes no geographic, historical, or liturgical background beyond the names and routes recorded in verses 1–28, the self-designation of Nebuchadnezzar, and the sweeping simile of v. 20. Any further identification of the peoples or cities listed (such as Put, Lud, or Rassis) lies outside what the supplied text and notes state.
常见问题
Why does Nebuchadnezzar call himself 'king of the Assyrians' and 'lord of the whole earth'?
Within the book of Judith itself, these are the titles the text puts on his lips (vv. 5, 12). The chapter does not explain or defend them; it simply records the king's own self-designation, leaving the reader to judge how it stands against the God introduced later in the story.
What is the structure of Wisdom 2?
Two labeled sections divide the chapter: 'The Expedition against the West' (vv. 1–13) presents Nebuchadnezzar's commission of Holofernes, and 'Campaign of Holofernes' (vv. 14–28) narrates the army's march through Cilicia, Mesopotamia, and into the coastal territories near Judea.
Why is the army compared to a swarm of locusts?
Verse 20 describes the mixed crowd accompanying the Assyrian force as 'like a swarm of locusts, like the dust of the earth — a multitude that could not be counted.' In its own context the simile conveys overwhelming numbers and an almost natural, unstoppable force rather than a moral judgment.