Judith 8

¹ Judith was informed at the time of what had happened. She was the daughter of Merari son of Ox, sonof Joseph, son of Oziel, son of Elkiah, son of Ananias, son of Gideon, son of Raphaim, son of Ahitub, son ofElijah, son of Hilkiah, son of Eliab, son of Nathanael, son of Salamiel, son of Sarasadai, son of Israel.

² Her husband Manasseh, of her own tribe and family, had died at the time of the barley harvest.

³ He was supervising the men as they bound up the sheaves in the field when he caught sunstroke andhad to take to his bed. He died in Bethulia, his home town, and was buried with his ancestors in the field that liesbetween Dothan and Balamon.

⁴ As a widow, Judith stayed inside her home for three years and four months.

⁵ She had had an upper room built for herself on the roof. She wore sackcloth next to the skin anddressed in widow's weeds.

⁶ She fasted every day of her widowhood except for the Sabbath eve, the Sabbath itself, the eve of NewMoon, the feast of New Moon and the joyful festivals of the House of Israel.

⁷ Now she was very beautiful, charming to see. Her husband Manasseh had left her gold and silver,menservants and maidservants, herds and land; and she lived among al her possessions

⁸ without anyone finding a word to say against her, so devoutly did she fear God.

⁹ Hearing how the water shortage had demoralised the people and how they had complained bitterly tothe headman of the town, and being also told what Uzziah had said to them and how he had given them his oathto surrender the town to the Assyrians in five days' time,

¹⁰ Judith immediately sent the serving-woman who ran her household to summon Chabris and Charmis,two elders of the town.

¹¹ When these came in she said: 'Listen to me, leaders of the people of Bethulia. You were wrong tospeak to the people as you did today and to bind yourself by oath, in defiance of God, to surrender the town toour enemies if the Lord did not come to your help within a set number of days.

¹² Who are you, to put God to the test today, you, of al people, to set yourselves above him?

¹³ You put the Lord Almighty to the test! You do not understand anything, and never wil .

¹⁴ If you cannot sound the depths of the human heart or unravel the arguments of the human mind, howcan you fathom the God who made all things, or sound his mind or unravel his purposes? No, brothers, do notprovoke the anger of the Lord our God.

¹⁵ Although it may not be his wil to help us within the next five days, he has the power to protect us for asmany days as he pleases, just as he has the power to destroy us before our enemies.

¹⁶ But you have no right to demand guarantees where the designs of the Lord our God are concerned.For God is not to be threatened as a human being is, nor is he, like a mere human, to be cajoled.

¹⁷ Rather, as we wait patiently for him to save, let us plead with him to help us. He wil hear our voice ifsuch is his good pleasure.

¹⁸ 'And indeed of recent times and stil today there is not one tribe of ours, or family, or vil age, or townthat has worshipped gods made by human hand, as once was done,

¹⁹ which was the reason why our ancestors were delivered over to sword and sack, and perished inmisery at the hands of our enemies.

²⁰ We for our part acknowledge no other God but him; and so we may hope he wil not look on usdisdainfully or desert our nation.

²¹ 'If indeed they capture us, as you expect, then al Judaea wil be captured too, and our holy placesplundered, and we shal answer with our blood for their profanation.

²² The slaughter of our brothers, the captivity of our country, the unpeopling of our heritage, will recoil onour own heads among the nations whose slaves we shal become, and our new masters wil look down on us asan outrage and a disgrace;

²³ for our surrender wil not reinstate us in their favour; no, the Lord our God will make it a thing to beashamed of.

²⁴ So now, brothers, let us set an example to our brothers, since their lives depend on us, and thesanctuary -- Temple and altar -- rests on us.

²⁵ 'Al this being so, let us rather give thanks to the Lord our God who, as he tested our ancestors, is nowtesting us.

²⁶ Remember how he treated Abraham, all the ordeals of Isaac, al that happened to Jacob in SyrianMesopotamia while he kept the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother.

²⁷ For as these ordeals were intended by him to search their hearts, so now this is not vengeance thatGod is exacting on us, but a warning inflicted by the Lord on those who are near his heart.'

²⁸ Uzziah replied, 'Everything you have just said comes from an honest heart and no one will contradict aword of it.

²⁹ Not that today is the first time your wisdom has been displayed; from your earliest years all the peoplehave known how shrewd you are and of how sound a heart.

³⁰ But, parched with thirst, the people forced us to act as we had promised them and to bind ourselves byan inviolable oath.

³¹ You are a devout woman; pray to the Lord, then, to send us a downpour to fil our storage-wel s, so thatour faintness may pass.'

³² Judith replied, 'Listen to me, I intend to do something, the memory of which wil be handed down to thechildren of our race from age to age.

³³ Tonight you must be at the gate of the town. I shal make my way out with my attendant. Before thetime fixed by you for surrendering the town to our enemies, the Lord wil make use of me to rescue Israel.

³⁴ You must not ask what I intend to do; I shall not tel you until I have done it.'

³⁵ Uzziah and the chief men said, 'Go in peace. May the Lord show you a way to take revenge on ourenemies.'

³⁶ And leaving the upper room they went back to their posts.