1-2 The next day Holofernes gathered his whole army together, as well as his allied forces. It was an immense army, consisting of 170,000 infantry and 12,000 cavalry, not counting the support troops who took care of the equipment. He ordered them to march on Bethulia, seize the mountain passes, and attack the Israelites. So they moved out
3 and set up camp beside the spring in the valley near Bethulia. The camp was so wide that it spread out towards the town of Dothan as far as Balbaim, and so long that it stretched from Bethulia to Cyamon, which faces the Valley of Jezreel.
4 When the Israelites saw the size of the army, they were terrified and said to one another, “Those soldiers are going to eat up everything in sight. There's not enough food in the mountains, valleys, and hills put together to feed an army like that.”
5 But in spite of their fear, all the Israelites took up their weapons, lighted signal fires on the towers, and remained on guard duty all night.
6 The next day Holofernes led out his entire cavalry so that the Israelites in Bethulia could see them.