Holofernes ordered his slaves, who waited on him in his tent, to seize Achior: Waited on him suggests that the slaves were serving Holofernes. The verb simply means that these men were standing or stationed in the tent. As indicated in 6.7, they need not be slaves or be doing anything servile. Good News Translation‘s “waiting” suggests why they were standing there, and is quite all right. New English Bible translates the Greek well also with “standing by.” The comma between in his tent and to seize is important. Holofernes ordered the men to seize Achior; they were not waiting there for that purpose.

Bethulia (see 4.6) is a town, and a translator would do well to remind the reader of that fact as Contemporary English Version does. It is the location of the rest of the story, except only for the description of Holofernes moving his troops in 7.1-2.

Men of Israel is literally “sons of Israel,” a common Hebrew phrase. “Israelites” is all that is needed.

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.