Holofernes begins to speak, so a new paragraph should begin here.

Holofernes said to her, “If your supply runs out, where can we get more like it for you?: “Asked” (Good News Translation) is more appropriate here than said. The question Holofernes asks in Greek is literally “But if the things with you fail, whence will we get things like them to give you?” This is awkward in English, but the meaning is clear. Good News Translation divides the one question into two. Each question not only conveys part of the information, but each one also imparts a tone of concern. Good News Translation also supplies the specific information of “food and wine.”

For none of your people is here with us: Your people is specifically identified as “Israelites” in Good News Translation.

There are three elements in this verse which a translation must cover:

(1) The food you brought with you will sooner or later run out.
(2) When it does, where will we (the Assyrians) get similar food?
(3) There are no Israelites in our camp (from whom we could get such food).

Number 3 must be expressed as a statement. The first two could be expressed as questions or as statements. Good News Translation provides a good model.

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.