5 ¹ When Holofernes, the general of the Assyrian army, heard that the people of Israel had prepared for war and had closed the passes in the hills and fortified all the high hilltops and set up barricades in the plains, 5 ² he was very angry. So he called together all the princes of Moab and the commanders of Ammon and all the governors of the coastland, 5 ³ and said to them, "Tell me, you Canaanites, what people is this that lives in the hill country? What cities do they inhabit? How large is their army, and in what does their power or strength consist? Who rules over them as king, leading their army? 5 ⁴ And why have they alone, of all who live in the west, refused to come out and meet me?"