The connector Then shows that once Nebuchadnezzar heard what Arphaxad was doing, he took action by “sending a message.” In some languages it may be appropriate to say, for example, “When King Nebuchadnezzar heard about this, he sent a message….”

Nebuchadnezzar … sent: Good News Translation supplies “a message” as the object of sent, but it does not make clear what the content of the message sent was. This is not given until verse 11, after nations of the Near East are listed in verses 7-10. The message was an invitation (New English Bible “summons”) to join Nebuchadnezzar in his campaign against Arphaxad. Translators would be correct in making this clear if needed. However, the implied object of sent is more likely “messengers” since they are mentioned in verse 11. Contemporary English Version goes in this direction with “Nebuchadnezzar sent messengers to ask the people of nearby regions and cities to join him in this battle. His messengers went to the….”

To all who lived in Persia: Nebuchadnezzar is making his appeal east and west. To the east, he invites “the Persians” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version).

All who lived in the west …: This clause summarizes the specific content of verses 7-10 from this point on. So one may translate “all the people who lived in regions west of Assyria, including….” All the following places and peoples would be west of Nebuchadnezzar. They specify places in modern Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Egypt. Cilicia, later a Roman province, lay on the southeast coast of Asia Minor (Turkey), adjoining Syria. Damascus was, and is, the capital of Syria. Lebanon and Antilebanon refer to two parallel mountain ranges running in a north-south direction north of Israel, in the territory of the modern nation of Lebanon. The Lebanon range is the westernmost of the two. The seacoast refers to the eastern Mediterranean, so one may translate “the people who lived along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea” (Contemporary English Version).

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Judith. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.