But when they departed from the way which he had appointed for them: They departed from the way is literally “they departed from the road,” which is of course the Law. So Contemporary English Version has “But as soon as they ignored his teachings…,” or we may say “But as soon as they began to disobey the Law [or, teachings] that their god had given them….”

They were utterly defeated in many battles and were led away captive to a foreign country: There is some tension between the statement that the people were utterly defeated over and over, and the statement that they were led away captive. Utterly defeated has to be taken as hyperbole, an overstatement. Good News Translation (also New English Bible) uses “suffered heavy losses” to resolve the conflict, but it does not really say that the people were also defeated on these occasions. One can suffer heavy losses and still win. The translator needs to build in both ideas: heavy loss and defeat. New American Bible does well with this problem: “they were ground down steadily, more and more, by frequent wars, and finally taken as captives into foreign lands.” Contemporary English Version is also good with “he let them be defeated by enemy after enemy, until finally they were taken away as captives to a foreign nation.” In languages that do not have the passive voice for defeated and led away captive, one may say, for example, “He let their enemies defeat them time after time, until finally the soldiers of one enemy nation took them away as captives to their land.” New Jerusalem Bible has a different approach: “some were exterminated in a series of battles, others were taken captive to a foreign land.” It is certainly true that those who were killed were not taken captive, but New Jerusalem Bible is open to the misunderstanding that the “series” of battles took place within a short space of time, and that the exile happened at the same time. And that, of course, is not only wrong, but unintended. Foreign country should be singular, in spite of verse 19. The literal phrase is “a land not their own.”

The temple of their God was razed to the ground, and their cities were captured: Achior’s informing Nebuchadnezzar’s general about the destruction of the temple and the people’s subsequent reoccupation of the land (verses 18-19) is the most obvious anachronism in the book. It was Nebuchadnezzar’s forces that destroyed the temple in 586 B.C. Translators here must simply translate what the text says, although it is of interest that Jerome saw fit to omit this statement when he translated the Vulgate. In languages that do not have the passive voice for was razed and were captured, the final two clauses may be translated as follows: “Their enemies destroyed the temple of their god and captured their cities.” Again Good News Translation has “god” rather than God. Whichever one translators decide to use, they should be consistent throughout.

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.