By this time the people of Israel living in Judea heard …: Verses 1 and 2 are independent sentences in the Greek text. Each is introduced by “and.” Virtually all translations connect the two by making verse 1 a subordinate clause introduced by “when.” So it is possible to translate “When the Israelites living in Judah heard that….” Revised Standard Version keeps the two sentences independent by beginning with the phrase By this time. This phrase really works pretty well, except that the verse is introducing a new chapter and hearers or readers may not remember what this time refers to. One way to avoid misunderstanding is to refer back to information at the end of chapter 3; for example, “By the time Holofernes and his soldiers were camped between Geba and Scythopolis, the people of Israel living in Judah heard….”

The reference to Israel is strange here, so Good News Translation omits it. The author writes during the time when only the tribe of Judah had returned from exile, but he is imaginatively reconstructing a reunited Israel. Moore suggests with good reason that “children of Israel” here is simply an archaic usage. The focus is certainly to be on Judea.

Had done to the nations: The term used for nations is the word often translated “Gentiles.” There is no doubt that here it translates the Hebrew word used for the non-Israelite world. Good News Translation uses “other nations” to get this across without the technicality of the word “Gentile.”

How he has plundered: Plundered means “forcibly took everything of value [or, all their valued possessions].” See 1.14.

Destroyed all their temples: Temples may be also rendered “places where they worshiped their gods.”

It is possible to reorder this verse as follows:

• When the people [of Israel] living in Judah heard that Holofernes the commander of King Nebuchadnezzar’s soldiers had destroyed all the places where the peoples of the surrounding nations worshiped their gods, and had taken everything of value….

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.