Judith 4

NEW JERUSALEM	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 When the Israelites living in Judaea heard how Holofernes, general-in-chief of Nebuchadnezzar king ofthe Assyrians, had treated the various nations, plundering their temples and destroying them,	1 Then the children of Israel, who dwelt in the land of Juda, hearing these things, were exceedingly afraid of him.
2 they were thoroughly alarmed at his approach and trembled for Jerusalem and the Temple of the Lordtheir God.	2 Dread and horror seized upon their minds, lest he should do the same to Jerusalem and to the temple of the Lord, that he had done to other cities and their temples.
3 They had returned from captivity only a short time before, and the resettlement of the people in Judaeaand the reconsecration of the sacred furnishings, of the altar, and of the Temple, which had been profaned, wereof recent date.	3 And they sent into all Samaria round about, as far as Jericho, and seized upon all the tops of the mountains:
4 They therefore alerted the whole of Samaria, Kona, Beth-Horon, Belmain, Jericho, Choba, Aesora andthe Salem val ey.	4 And they compassed their towns with walls, and gathered together corn for provision for war.
5 They occupied the summits of the highest mountains and fortified the vil ages on them; they laid insupplies for the coming war, as the fields had just been harvested.	5 And Eliachim the priest wrote to all that were over against Esdrelon, which faceth the great plain near Dothain, and to all by whom there might be a passage of way, that they should take possession of the ascents of the mountains, by which there might be any way to Jerusalem, and should keep watch where the way was narrow between the mountains.
6 Joakim the high priest, resident in Jerusalem at the time, wrote to the inhabitants of Bethulia and ofBetomesthaim, two towns facing Esdraelon, towards the plain of Dothan.	6 And the children of Israel did as the priest of the Lord Eliachim had appointed them,
7 He ordered them to occupy the mountain passes, the only means of access to Judaea, for there it wouldbe easy for them to halt an attacking force, the narrowness of the approach not al owing men to advance morethan two abreast.	7 And all the people cried to the Lord with great earnestness, and they humbled their souls in fastings, and prayers, both they and their wives.
8 The Israelites carried out the orders of Joakim the high priest and of the people's Council of Elders insession at Jerusalem.	8 And the priests put on haircloths, and they caused the little children to lie prostrate before the temple of the Lord, and the altar of the Lord they covered with haircloth.
9 All the men of Israel cried most fervently to God and humbled themselves before him.	9 And they cried to the Lord the God of Israel with one accord, that their children might not be made a prey, and their wives carried off, and their cities destroyed, and their holy things profaned, and that they might not be made a reproach to the Gentiles.
10 They, their wives, their children, their cattle, al their resident aliens, hired or slave, wrapped sackclothround their loins.	10 Then Eliachim the high priest of the Lord went about all Israel and spoke to them,
11 Al the Israelites in Jerusalem, including women and children, lay prostrate in front of the Temple, andwith ashes on their heads stretched out their hands before the Lord.	11 Saying: Know ye that the Lord will hear your prayers, if you continue with perseverance in fastings and prayers in the sight of the Lord.
12 They draped the altar itself in sackcloth and fervently joined together in begging the God of Israel not tolet their children be carried off, their wives distributed as booty, the towns of their heritage destroyed, the Templeprofaned and desecrated for the heathen to gloat over.	12 Remember Moses the servant of the Lord, who overcame Amalec that trusted in his own strength, and in his power, and in his army, and in his shields, and in his chariots, and in his horsemen, not by fighting with the sword, but by holy prayers:
13 The Lord heard them and looked kindly on their distress. The people fasted for many days throughoutJudaea as wel as in Jerusalem before the sanctuary of the Lord Almighty.	13 So shall all the enemies of Israel be, if you persevere in this work which you have begun.
14 Joakim the high priest and al who stood before the Lord, the Lord's priests and ministers, woresackcloth round their loins as they offered the perpetual burnt offering and the votive and voluntary offerings ofthe people.	14 So they being moved by this exhortation of his, prayed to the Lord, and continued in the sight of the Lord.
15 With ashes on their turbans they earnestly cal ed on the Lord to look kindly on the House of Israel.	15 So that even they who offered the holocausts to the Lord, offered the sacrifices to the Lord girded with haircloths, and with ashes upon their head.
	16 And they all begged of God with all their heart, that he would visit his people Israel.