Judith the Widow

^1-2A 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.

³He 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.

⁴Judith had now been a widow for three years and four months,

⁵and 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.[#Jg 3.19,20; 2 K 4.10.; #8.5 See the note at 4.10.]

⁶To 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.

⁷Judith 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.

⁸Judith faithfully worshiped God, and no one ever said anything bad about her.

Judith Meets with the Leaders of Bethulia

⁹Judith 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.[#8.9 See 7.23-28.]

¹⁰So at once Judith sent her most trusted servant woman to invite the three town leaders Uzziah, Chabris, and Charmis to her home.[#8.10 Greek “the servant woman who took care of all her property.”]

¹¹When they arrived, she said:

²⁸Uzziah replied:

³²Judith said to the three town leaders:

³⁵Uzziah and the others replied, “This sounds good to us! We pray that the Lord God will help you take revenge on our enemies.”

³⁶The three men left Judith's rooftop shelter and took their positions at the gate.