1 When the commotion of the men who surrounded the council quieted down, Holofernes the general of the Assyrian army said to Achior and all the Moabites in the presence of all the assembled foreigners:
2 “Who are you, Achior, and you soldiers-for-hire from Ephraim, that you prophesy to us as you have today and say that we shouldn’t attack the Israelites because their God will protect them? Who is god except Nebuchadnezzar? He will send his power and destroy them from the earth, and their God won’t rescue them.
3 We, on the other hand, are Nebuchadnezzar’s servants and will destroy them as if they were only a single man. They won’t be able to resist the power of our cavalry,
4 which will wipe them out. Their hills will be drunk with their blood, and their fields will be filled with their dead. Not even their footprints will survive! They will be completely destroyed. So says King Nebuchadnezzar, master of all the earth, for he has spoken and none of his words will fail.
5 "But as for you, Achior, you Ammonite mercenary, what you’ve said today comes from your own wickedness. You won’t see me again from now until the day I take revenge on this race that came out of Egypt.
6 And when I return, the sword of my army and the spear of my servants will pierce through your ribs, and you will fall among their wounded.
7 Now my servants will deliver you to the highlands and leave you in one of the cities near the mountain passes.