Judith 4

CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Then, upon hearing these things, the sons of Israel, who dwelt in the land of Judah, were very afraid before his face.	1 When the Israelites who dwelt in Judea heard of all that Holofernes, commander-in-chief of Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians, had done to the nations, and how he had despoiled all their temples and destroyed them,
2 Trembling and horror invaded their senses, lest he should do the same thing to Jerusalem and to the temple of the Lord that he had done to other cities and their temples.	2 they were in extreme dread of him, and greatly alarmed for Jerusalem and the temple of the Lord, their God.
3 And they sent into all of Samaria, and by an indirect route even to Jericho, and they seized in advance all the tops of the mountains.	3 Now, they had lately returned from exile, and only recently had all the people of Judea been gathered together, and the vessels, the altar, and the temple been purified from profanation.
4 And they surrounded their villages with walls, and they gathered together grain in preparation for the fight.	4 So they sent word to the whole region of Samaria, to Kona, Beth-horon, Belmain, and Jericho, to Choba and Aesora, and to the valley of Salem.
5 And then Eliachim the priest wrote to all who were opposite Esdrelon, which is opposite the face of the great plain near Dothain, and to all whom he would be able to reach through a passable way:	5 The people there posted guards on all the summits of the high mountains, fortified their villages, and since their fields had recently been harvested, stored up provisions in preparation for war.
6 that they should hold the ascents of the mountains, through which there might be any passage able to reach Jerusalem, and that they should keep watch where the passage was narrow, wherever possible, between the mountains.	6 Joakim, who was high priest in Jerusalem in those days, wrote to the inhabitants of Bethulia (and Betomesthaim), which is on the way to Esdraelon, facing the plain near Dothan,
7 And the sons of Israel did just as Eliachim, the priest of the Lord, had appointed them.	7 and instructed them to keep firm hold of the mountain passes, since these offered access to Judea. It would be easy to ward off the attacking forces, as the defile was only wide enough for two abreast.
8 And all the people cried out to the Lord with great urgency, and they humbled their souls with fastings, and prayers, both they and their wives.	8 The Israelites carried out the orders given them by Joakim, the high priest, and the senate of the whole people of Israel, which met in Jerusalem.
9 And the priests clothed themselves with haircloths, and they prostrated the little children opposite the face of the temple of the Lord, and they covered the altar of the Lord with haircloth.	9 All the men of Israel cried to God with great fervor and did penance--
10 And they cried out to the Lord God of Israel with one accord, lest their children should be given over as prey, and their wives into distribution, and their cities into extermination, and their holy things into defilement, and so that they might not become the disgrace of the Gentiles.	10 they, along with their wives, and children, and domestic animals. All their resident aliens, hired laborers, and slaves also girded themselves with sackcloth.
11 Then Eliachim, the high priest of the Lord, traveled all around Israel, and he was talking to them,	11 And all the Israelite men, women and children who lived in Jerusalem prostrated themselves in front of the temple building, with ashes strewn on their heads, displaying their sackcloth covering before the Lord.
12 saying: “Know that the Lord will heed your prayers, if you continue to persevere in fastings and prayers in the sight of the Lord.	12 The altar, too, they draped in sackcloth; and with one accord they cried out fervently to the God of Israel not to allow their children to be seized, their wives to be taken captive, the cities of their inheritance to be ruined, or the sanctuary to be profaned and mocked for the nations to gloat over.
13 Recall that Moses, the servant of the Lord, overcame Amalek, who trusted in his own strength, and in his power, and in his army, and in his bronze shields, and in his swift chariots, and in his horsemen. He overcame him, not by fighting with iron, but by pleading with holy prayers.	13 The Lord heard their cry and had regard for their distress. For the people observed a fast of many days' duration throughout Judea, and before the sanctuary of the Lord Almighty in Jerusalem.
14 So will it be with all the enemies of Israel, if you persevere in this work that you have begun.”	14 The high priest Joakim, and all the priests in attendance on the Lord who served his altar, were also girded with sackcloth as they offered the daily holocaust, the votive offerings, and the freewill offerings of the people.
15 Therefore, by this exhortation and his prayer to the Lord, they continued in the sight of the Lord,	15 With ashes upon their turbans, they cried to the Lord with all their strength to look with favor on the whole house of Israel.
16 so that even those who offered holocausts to the Lord, offered the sacrifices to the Lord girded with haircloths, and there were ashes upon their heads.
17 And they all begged God with their whole heart, that he would visit his people Israel.