They and their wives and children will waste away with famine: Any translation saying “anyone” in verse 13 would be well advised in this verse to follow the example of Good News Translation in introducing “men.” Otherwise, by saying their wives and children, one would be using “anyone” to refer specifically to men. New Revised Standard Version misses this point. Contemporary English Version puts “men” at the beginning of the verse with “Every man, woman, and child in the town….” Waste away with famine probably means, as Good News Translation has it, “starve to death.” This may be an overstatement, but if so, it is allowable. The enemy is not being careful and precise with words here. In verse 13 it is said that the people will surrender the city because of thirst. Here the people will be starving, and nothing is said about surrender.

Before the sword reaches them is literal. The sword refers to Holofernes’ soldiers, not the Edomites and those with them. So Contemporary English Version has “before your army attacks” (compare Good News Translation “before we attack”). The point is that Holofernes can wait them out and take the city without sustaining any losses of his own.

They will be strewn about in the streets where they live refers to their corpses lying in the streets. Streets where they live means “streets where they now live,” but where they live is essentially redundant, and Good News Translation leaves it out. An alternative translation model for the last half of this verse is: “Even before we attack, their dead bodies will litter the streets where they now live.”

Contemporary English Version helpfully rearranges the clauses of this verse as follows:

• Every man, woman, and child in the town will starve to death, and the streets will be filled with dead bodies, even before your army attacks.

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.