15 Just as the king had ordered, he chose 120,000 of the best infantrymen and 12,000 of the best mounted archers
16 and arranged them in battle formation.
17 He also took along a very large number of camels, donkeys, and mules to carry the equipment, as well as many sheep, cattle, and goats for food.
18 Every soldier received plenty of rations and a large payment of gold and silver from the royal treasury.
19 Then Holofernes and his entire army set out, advancing ahead of King Nebuchadnezzar. The chariots, the cavalry, and the infantry marched out to overrun the entire western region.
20 Other troops went with them. There were so many that it was impossible to count them — they were like a swarm of locusts or like grains of sand in the desert.
21 Three days after they had left the city of Nineveh, they reached the plains round Bectileth near the mountains north of Cilicia, where they set up camp.