Did Holofernes' Army Travel 300 Miles in Three Days? No.

One objection made by Protestants against the Apocryphal book of Judith is how it allegedly teaches Holofernes' army (i.e. the army of the Assyrians coming against the Jews) traveled a distance of about three hundred miles (from Nineveh to Upper Cilicia) in a matter of three short days (Rochford). Even Roman Catholics throw in the towel and concede to Protestants that this is impossible to be true. As Catholic apologist Dr. Scott Hahn writes about the "problem" (in a work approved with a Nihil Obstat, and an Imprimatur from the Archbishop of San Francisco), he says this is

Perhaps a deliberate exaggeration to create the impression of a lightning campaign. The distance from Nineveh to Upper Cilicia is roughly 300 miles, and it is next to impossible that 120,000 soldiers could advance on foot at this rate with supply caravans in tow (2:15-17).

(Hahn et al. 45)

But reading the actual verse in question reveals no problem at all.

And they went forth of Nineve three days' journey toward the plain of Bectileth, and pitched from Bectileth near the mountain which is at the left hand of the upper Cilicia.

Judith 2:21 A.V. 1611 (PCE 1900)

The verse didn't say that they left Nineveh and arrived in Bectileth in "three days' journey." It said instead Holofernes' army "went forth of Nineve three days' journey toward" Bectileth. A simple cross-reference to the book of Jonah shows the three days' journey is the journey traversing Nineveh itself to leave it, as they began to head in the direction of ("toward") Bectileth.

So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey.

Jonah 3:3 A.V. 1611 (PCE 1900)

So what Judith 2:21 is actually saying is that Holofernes' army had to travel three days to leave the city of Nineveh, "toward" Bectileth, which was another 300 miles away. The comma in 2:21 furthermore represents a time gap from their departure from Nineveh to their arrival in Bectileth, just as the comma in Isaiah 61:2 represents the gap between the First and Second Advents (cf. Luke 4:17-21). So while Protestants attack the word of God, and Roman Catholics throw in the towel in defending what they're supposed to believe, God's word still stands true, being understood by "comparing spiritual things with spiritual" (1 Corinthians 2:13). The King James Bible is always right, including the Apocrypha.

Works Cited

Hahn, Scott, et al. Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: Tobit, Judith, and Esther, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2019.

Rochford, James M. "The Apocrypha." Evidence Unseen, 2022, https://www.evidenceunseen.com/world-religions/roman-catholicism/the-apocrypha/. Accessed on 3 Nov. 2022.