But now they have returned to their God, and have come back: Revised Standard Version‘s literal rendering makes it sound as if the people have only recently returned to God and come back, and that they did both simultaneously. Good News Translation avoids that with the connector “that” to begin the first clause: “now that they have returned to their god, they have come back home….” One could also say “But once they returned to their god, they came back home….” It should be noted that the Greek uses different verbs for returning to God and returning to the land. The first is a verb meaning literally “turn back,” and is used of repentance. So it is possible to say “Now they have started worshiping their god again, and have returned home….”

From the places to which they were scattered: This clause in Greek makes use of a related noun and verb. It reads literally “the dispersion where they were dispersed.” An alternative way to express this clause is “from the places where their enemies took them as captives” (also Tob 13.3).

Have occupied Jerusalem, where their sanctuary is, and have settled in the hill country: The verb settled is the word indicating lasting settlement as discussed at 5.9. “Resettled” (Good News Translation) is clearly implied in this context (see 5.15). The verb translated occupied differs from settled. “Taken possession of” (Good News Translation) is better than occupied; it implies permanent possession as well as moving in and taking over. Sanctuary means “temple, the place where they worshiped their god” (see 4.13).

It was uninhabited may be rendered “no other people had settled there.”

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.