Israel Prepares Its Defense
Judith 4, verse 1. When the Israelites residing in Judea heard everything Holofernes, the commander of Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians, had done to the nations, and how he stripped and demolished all their temples, Judith 4, verse 2. they were greatly terrified at his presence. They were troubled for Jerusalem and also for the temple of the Lord their God. Judith 4, verse 3. For they had just recently come back from exile, and all the people of Judea had only recently been regathered, and the holy vessels, the altar, and the temple had been consecrated, having been profaned. Judith 4, verse 4. So they sent word into all the region of Samaria, and to Kona, Beth Horon, Belmen, and to Jericho and Choba and Aesora, and to the valley of Salem. Judith 4, verse 5. Immediately they seized all the hilltops and fortified the villages in them, and stored up provisions in preparation for war, having just harvested their fields. Judith 4, verse 6. Joakim the high priest, who was in Jerusalem at that time, wrote to those dwelling in Bethulia and Betomesthaim, which faces Esdraelon opposite the plain near Dothan. Judith 4, verse 7. He ordered them to occupy the mountain passes, since Judea could be invaded through them. They were easy to defend because the approach was narrow, with space for only two men at the most to pass. Judith 4, verse 8. The Israelites did as instructed by Joakim the high priest and the council of all the people of Israel, which met in Jerusalem. Judith 4, verse 9. And all the men of Israel cried to God with great fervor and humbled themselves in great somberness. Judith 4, verse 10. They, their wives and children, their cattle, and all the strangers, the hired servants and the purchased slaves, put sackcloth around their waists. Judith 4, verse 11. All the men of Israel and the women and the children living in Jerusalem prostrated themselves before the temple, and put ashes on their heads and spread out their sackcloth before the face of the Lord. Judith 4, verse 12. They also covered the altar with sackcloth, and cried out fervently with one accord to the God of Israel that He would not allow their infants to be prey and their wives to be seized; that the cities they inherited not be destroyed; that their sanctuary not be desecrated and be a reproach to the gloating of the Gentiles. Judith 4, verse 13. The Lord heard their cry and looked down on their affliction, for the people were fasting many days in all Judea and Jerusalem before the sanctuary of the Lord Almighty. Judith 4, verse 14. And Joakim the high priest and all the priests who stood before the presence of the Lord and served the Lord, having girded their waists with sackcloth, offered the continual whole burnt offerings and the votive and the freewill offerings of the people. Judith 4, verse 15. With ashes on their turbans, with all their strength they cried out to the Lord to look with favor upon all the house of Israel.