1 A man named Joakim once lived in Babylon.
2 His wife Susanna, Hilkiah’s daughter, was very beautiful and honored the Lord.
3 Her parents were good people, and they taught their daughter according to the Law from Moses.
4 Joakim was very rich, and he had a large private garden next to his home. The Jews came to him because he was the most honored among them.
5 Two elders among the people had been appointed as judges that year. It was about them that the Lord had spoken: "Lawless disorder has come out of Babylon, from elders, from judges who were supposed to guide the people."
6 These men spent a lot of time at Joakim’s house, and all the people with lawsuits came to them.
7 When the people went away in the middle of the day, Susanna would walk around her husband’s private garden.