1-2 A widow named Judith lived in Bethulia and knew everything that was happening. She was the daughter of Merari and the granddaughter of Ox. Her ancestors included Joseph, Oziel, Elkiah, Ananias, Gideon, Raphain, Ahitub, Elijah, Hilkiah, Eliab, Nathanael, Salamiel, Sarasadai, and Israel.Judith and her husband Manasseh had belonged to the same tribe and clan, and he had died during a barley harvest.
3 He had stood a long time in the hot sun, supervising his workers, and he became so hot that he went to bed, where he later died. Manasseh was buried in his family burial place in a field between the towns of Dothan and Balamon, near his hometown of Bethulia.
4 Judith had now been a widow for three years and four months,
5 and she had moved into a small shelter she had made on the roof of her house. She wore widow's clothes and wrapped pieces of sackcloth around her waist.
6 To show her sorrow, Judith went without eating, although she did eat on those days when it was commanded by God's Law: on each Sabbath and the day before it, on each New Moon Festival and the day before it, as well as on every joyous festival the Israelites celebrated.
7 Judith was very beautiful. And she was also very rich, because her husband had left her a lot of gold and silver, as well as male and female slaves, property, and livestock.
8 Judith faithfully worshiped God, and no one ever said anything bad about her.
9 Judith heard that the people of Bethulia were weak from a shortage of water and that they had blamed Uzziah for their misery. She also learned that Uzziah had promised to surrender to the Assyrians in five days.
10 So at once Judith sent her most trusted servant woman to invite the three town leaders Uzziah, Chabris, and Charmis to her home.
11 When they arrived, she said:I realize that you are the leaders of Bethulia, but please listen to me. What you said to the people today was wrong. You should not have promised them that you would surrender to the Assyrians, if the Lord God doesn't help us within the next few days. This promise was even made in God's name.
12 You have no right to test God like that, and you certainly have no business trying to control the lives of people. God is in control of that.
13 You are testing the Lord All-Powerful! You can never
14 know what goes on in a person's heart or learn what someone else is thinking. How do you expect to know what God is thinking or what he is planning? The only thing you're doing is making him angry.
15 Even if God does refuse to help us within the next five days, he still has the power to rescue us anytime he chooses. Or he may decide to let our enemies defeat us.
16 Don't put limits on what the Lord our God can do. God is not a mere human. He cannot be threatened or forced into doing something.
17 All we can do is pray for his help and wait for him to rescue us from our enemies. It is up to God to answer us when he chooses.
18 It's true that many of our ancestors worshiped gods made by human hands. Yet none of us alive today has ever sinned like that.
19 Enemies violently abused and killed our ancestors because they worshiped these gods.
20 But since we worship only the Lord God, I pray that he will not reject us or any of our people.
21 If our town is captured, then before long all of Judea will fall and our temple in Jerusalem will be in ruins. And if the temple becomes an unfit place for worship, God will make us pay with our lives.
22 He will punish us for the slaughter of our people and for the destruction and capture of the land he gave us as our own. We will be slaves to other nations, and they will insult and make fun of us.
23 They will never honor us if we are their slaves. We will only be disgraced—the Lord our God will certainly see to that.
24 Our people are depending on us. In fact, the future of the altar and the temple is in our hands. And so, my friends, let's show our people that we haven't given up hope.
25 Even though things are difficult, we should thank the Lord our God. He is testing us to see how faithful we are, just as he tested our ancestors long ago.
26 Do you remember how the Lord tested Abraham and Isaac or what happened to Jacob while he was taking care of his uncle Laban's sheep in Mesopotamia?
27 The Lord isn't testing our faithfulness to him as severely as he tested the faith of our ancestors, and he isn't taking revenge on us. These hard times were sent as a warning.
28 Uzziah replied:Judith, everything you have said is true, and no one would disagree.
29 And this is certainly not the first time you have spoken so wisely. Even as a child, you showed good sense, and the people of Bethulia have always known how wise and fair your decisions are.
30 But everyone in town is dying of thirst, and they begged us until we finally made them a solemn promise that we can't break.
31 You faithfully worship the Lord God, so pray for us all and ask him to send enough rain to fill our wells. Once we have drinking water, our strength will return.
32 Judith said to the three town leaders:I'm going to do something—something that will never be forgotten.
33 The Lord will use me to rescue the people of Israel before the day you agreed to surrender to the Assyrians.I want the three of you to stand guard at the town gate tonight, so that my servant woman and I can leave safely.
34 Don't try to figure out what I'm doing. I will tell you everything after I have finished.
35 Uzziah and the others replied, “This sounds good to us! We pray that the Lord God will help you take revenge on our enemies.”
36 The three men left Judith's rooftop shelter and took their positions at the gate.