Let us go up: An emphatic expression should be used for let us go up; for example, Good News Translation has “Let’s go ahead!” This is needed to convey the excitement of the moment. In English, this is the kind of situation when a speaker would resort to an idiomatic expression, such as “let’s mow them down” or “let’s make mincemeat of them.”

Lord Holofernes may be rendered “Master Holofernes.”

They will be devoured by your vast army: This is the climax to the speech. The Greek is literally “they will be food for your whole army.” This “food” (devoured) image is used again in 10.12. The imagery helps to highlight the climax. For this clause Good News Translation has “your great army will slaughter them easily,” but this weakens the climax since figurative language is not used. New English Bible does better with “your great army will swallow them whole,” and New Jerusalem Bible with “Your army … will swallow them in one mouthful!” Another idiomatic expression is “Your army will eat them alive!”

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.