Then he went down into the plain of Damascus during the wheat harvest: Next Holofernes arrives at the plain near the city of Damascus. This occurred during the wheat harvest, which would have been late spring or early summer. Unless a whole year has been spent laying waste all the country in verses 21-26, Holofernes’ exploits have taken little more than a couple of months. He started out in early spring; compare the note on 2.1. During the wheat harvest means “while they [the inhabitants] were harvesting wheat.” Wheat was a grain crop from which they made bread. In cultures where wheat is unknown and “rice” is the staple crop, one may say “a rice-like plant named ‘wheat.’ ” In some areas a general word like “fruit” may be used for crops that have grains and must be threshed, so one may translate “a fruit named ‘wheat.’ ”

Burned all their fields refers to burning all the standing wheat. So one may say “burned all their crops.”

Slaughtered the flocks and herds: The flocks and herds could have consisted of sheep, goats, cattle, or any combination.

Sacked their cities may be rendered “looted the towns” (Good News Translation) or “forcibly took all their possessions from the towns.”

Ravaged their lands may be rendered “devastated the entire countryside” (Good News Translation) or “destroyed everything outside their towns and cities.”

Put to death all their young men with the edge of the sword: The edge of the sword is literally “the mouth of the sword.” It is a familiar Hebrew idiom used in the Greek text. Good News Translation doesn’t mention the sword, but simply says “killed all the young men.” This is a good model for a number of languages (compare the note on 1.12, where it represents all weapons).

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.