Go and attack the whole west country: Holofernes is to attack all “the lands to the west” (Good News Translation).

Because they disobeyed my orders: My orders is literally “the word of my mouth.” Good News Translation translates this “my appeal for help.” This suggests that Nebuchadnezzar had been in trouble and was begging for someone to help him out. That was not the case. He, “lord of the whole earth,” had given orders, and these little states (1.7-10) had been rash enough to defy his imperial majesty and disobeyed him. It is possible to begin a new sentence here; for example, “I ordered them to help me, but they refused.” The whole verse may be alternatively rendered:

• Then attack all the lands of the west. I ordered them to help me, but they refused.

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.