The reign of Nebuchadnezzar, who ruled over the Assyrians in the great city of Nineveh: Since reign means “rule,” in many languages these two clauses will be combined; for example, “King Nebuchadnezzar ruled over…” or, more simply, “Nebuchadnezzar ruled over….” Good News Translation‘s “was ruling over … from his capital city of Nineveh” is a helpful alternative (similarly Contemporary English Version). For “king” see Tob 1.2. For Nineveh and “capital city,” see Tob 1.3. For a discussion on city or “town,” see Tob 1.2.

Arphaxad, who ruled over the Medes in Ecbatana may be translated in a similar way as the first part of the verse (see Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version). The Medes were the people of Media, an ancient kingdom located in the area of eastern Iraq and western Iran. Ecbatana was its capital city.

A long parenthetical statement in verses 2-4 complicates the sentence begun in verse 1. The main clause of this sentence does not come until verse 5. The structure of the whole sentence is as follows:

In the twelfth year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar
who ruled over the Assyrians in … Nineveh,
in the days of Arphaxad,
who ruled over the Medes in Ecbatana—

he is the king who
built walls …
made the walls …
built towers …
made its gates, which were …
so that his armies …

King Nebuchadnezzar made war against King Arphaxad….

This parenthesis plays a literary function that should be kept. The story of Judith is magnified in importance by being set in the context of world history. It is placed within events issuing from a colossal contest between two giants in the world: Nebuchadnezzar and Arphaxad. Nebuchadnezzar was well known to the readers, so they knew that he was king of Babylon (605-562 B.C.), and not king of Assyria. It may be the author’s clue to the reader that we are constructing our own world here. Arphaxad is not known to us and may not have been known to the writer’s audience, so he is identified. He is identified in terms of his powerful defenses, which later in the chapter Nebuchadnezzar will overcome. The power that overcomes these strong defenses will later fall victim to Judith’s wiles and faith in her God. The massive parenthesis describing Arphaxad’s might (verses 2-4) blocks the progress of the narrative. It is a literary forewarning of and preparation for the collision of military forces to follow.

Good News Translation approaches this parenthesis by putting verses 1-4 into one paragraph to identify the two kings. The initial information about the twelfth year is moved to verse 5 to begin a new paragraph, where the action begins. Other recent versions, such as New Revised Standard Version, New American Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, and the translation by Gonzáles and Alonso-Schöckel, use another device. For them verse 1 begins with “It was the twelfth year….” This sets the stage. Verse 2 then begins a new sentence describing Arphaxad’s defenses. This keeps the block of material where the author placed it. Verse 5 (a new paragraph in Traduction œcuménique de la Bible and Gonzáles and Alonso-Schöckel) begins the action with an initiating expression. The literal “in those days” actually works quite well.

This long, complicated introduction can be compared to the similar beginning in the book of Esther.

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.