For we have heard of your wisdom and skill: Judith really flatters Holofernes here. Her sweet talk is so extravagant that only the most arrogant and conceited person could not see through it, but Judith has understood her opponent well. We refers of course to the Israelites, or at least the people of Bethulia, and some translators may feel it helpful to say “We Israelites have heard…” or “My people have heard” (Contemporary English Version). The nouns wisdom and skill become adjectives in Good News Translation; they sound more flattering that way since the clause “how wise and clever you are” calls more attention to Holofernes’ person.

It is reported throughout the whole world that you are the one good man in the whole kingdom, thoroughly informed and marvelous in military strategy: This represents the Greek literally, but it is awkward in English. Good News Translation expresses this sentence better in English and represents the Greek well for the most part. Judith is not really saying that Holofernes is the only good man in the kingdom, but that he is the best in regard to the skills that follow. However, Good News Translation could improve its translation of the whole world. One hates to say that every translation misses the point, but every translation at hand has Judith telling Holofernes that the whole world knows all this about him. The Greek uses a word that can mean, and here probably does mean, “the whole land,” that is, all of Israel. She has just said we have heard … and that thought is probably continued here. She is speaking for Israel, not for the whole world. Good News Translation could be altered to catch this: “Everyone in Israel [or, this whole land] knows….” With this change Good News Translation‘s model is a helpful one and translators should study it.

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.