Nebuchadnezzar the king of the whole world lives, and as his power endures: Good News Translation‘s “I swear to you by the life and strength of Nebuchadnezzar” (similarly Contemporary English Version) gets the meaning of the Greek text. Judith is affirming something that Holofernes, servant of Nebuchadnezzar, would perceive as binding. He would see it as an expression of loyalty, but the reader sees it as meaningless since life and strength belong to God, not Nebuchadnezzar. An alternative translation model is: “I affirm that Nebuchadnezzar lives. He is king over the whole world.” For king of the whole earth, see “lord of the whole earth” in 2.5.

Who had sent you to direct every living soul: Every living soul refers to human beings, animals, and birds, as in the following clauses. Good News Translation renders this “who sent you to bring order to all the subjects of his kingdom.”

Not only do men serve him because of you, but also the beasts of the field and the cattle and the birds of the air will live by your power under Nebuchadnezzar and all his house: Men means “all people” (male and female). Beasts of the field refers to wild animals (jungle animals). In most languages the use of field will not be necessary. Birds of the air literally translates a Hebrew expression. Most languages will not need to add of the air. Good News Translation has a footnote indicating that from “not only have you made people…” to the end, the verse is unclear in Greek. It is. It is complicated by the preposition under, which does not yield good sense with what follows. There are some textual variants in the manuscripts, but they do not help a great deal. Of the several solutions, the two represented by Revised Standard Version (as well as New Revised Standard Version, where the sentence has been repunctuated for clarity) and Good News Translation are the most reasonable.

The Revised Standard Version solution is simpler, but it is questionable from a grammatical standpoint. It involves changing the grammatical case of the phrase after the preposition under. New Revised Standard Version reflects this solution as follows:

Not only do people serve him because of you but also the animals of the field and the cattle and the birds of the air will live, because of your power, under Nebuchadnezzar and all his house.

Here “animals … cattle … birds” are subjects of “will live.”

The Good News Translation solution is more involved, but it is more convincing. It involves omitting the troublesome preposition (for which there is good manuscript evidence) and putting “and his house” in a different grammatical case (for which there is some slight evidence). The result is (Good News Translation reworded):

Not only have you made people serve him, but even the wild animals, the livestock, and the birds obey him. Because of you, Nebuchadnezzar and his whole kingdom will prosper [live].

Here “people … wild animals … livestock … birds” are subjects of “serve/obey,” which Good News Translation represents twice for clarity. Nebuchadnezzar and all his house becomes the subject of “will live.” This really seems to be the best way to go. It is supported by Enslin and Moore in their commentaries. When Judith says this, she means that people shout “Long live King Nebuchadnezzar” because of Holofernes’ support. On the animals in relation to the king, compare Jer 27.6 and Dan 2.37-38. Nebuchadnezzar and all his house may refer to the king and his court officials, but Good News Translation takes it to mean his kingdom. This is reasonable, and recommended.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• I affirm to you that King Nebuchadnezzar lives. He rules over the whole world, and you have brought every living thing under his control. Not only have you made people all over the world serve him, but also the wild animals and livestock and birds obey him. Because of you, Nebuchadnezzar and his whole kingdom will prosper.

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.