Men refers to “messengers” (Good News Translation). In Hebrew culture these would have been males. For senate see the note at 4.8. Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version arrange the events in this verse in a satisfyingly clear order, and do well to make the verse a continuation of the last sentence of the previous verse. What is said here is surely fantasy on Judith’s part; giving specific details about Jewish laws like this would make her story more believable. Some translators may wish to use two sentences in this verse, as Contemporary English Version has done:

• but even the people of Jerusalem have already broken that law. So my own people in Bethulia have sent messengers to ask the religious leaders in Jerusalem if the same thing could be done here.

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.