10 So she sent her most trusted servant, the one who managed her property, to call for Uzziah, Chabris, and Charmis, the elders of her city.
11 When they came to her, she said to them:“Listen to me, rulers of the inhabitants of Bethulia. What you have said to the people today isn’t right. What is this promise you have made? How can you bargain with God by saying that you’ll surrender the city to our enemies if the Lord doesn’t send help within a certain time?
12 So who are you to test God today and set yourselves up in the place of God in the midst of the people?
13 You can question the Lord Almighty, but you won’t ever learn anything.
14 You can’t sound the depths of a person’s heart or comprehend the thoughts of that person’s mind. How then will you search out God, who made all these things? How will you understand God’s mind and comprehend God’s thoughts?“No, brothers, don’t provoke the Lord our God,
15 even if he chooses not to help us in the next five days. God has the power to visit us in however many days he wishes or to destroy us in front of our enemies.
16 Don’t attempt to block the plans of the Lord our God. God isn’t like a human being who can be argued with, a person who can be threatened.