6 And Joakim the high priest, which was in those days at Jerusalem, wrote to them that lived in Bethulia, and Betomesthaim, which is over against Esdraelon toward the plain that is near to Dothaim,
7 charging them to seize upon the ascents of the hill country; because by them was the entrance into Judaea, and it was easy to stop them from approaching, inasmuch as the approach was narrow, with space for two men at the most.
8 And the children of Israel did as Joakim the high priest had commanded them, and the senate of all the people of Israel, which lived at Jerusalem.
9 And every man of Israel cried to God with great earnestness, and with great earnestness did they humble their souls.
10 They, and their wives, and their babes, and their cattle, and every sojourner and hireling and servant bought with their money, put sackcloth upon their loins.
11 And every man and woman of Israel, and the little children, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, fell before the temple, and cast ashes upon their heads, and spread out their sackcloth before the Lord; and they put sackcloth about the altar:
12 and they cried to the God of Israel earnestly with one consent, that he would not give their babes for a prey, and their wives for a spoil, and the cities of their inheritance to destruction, and the sanctuary to profanation and reproach, for the nations to rejoice at.