Yudit (Judith) — 4

Yahudah on the Alert

1 By this time the people of Yashar'AL living in Yahudah heard of everything that Hulufarnas, the general of Nabuchadnazzar the king of the Assyrians, had done to the nations, and how he had plundered and destroyed all their temples; 

2 they were therefore very greatly terrified at his approach, and were alarmed both for Yahushalam and for the temple of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH their 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH. 

3 For they had only recently returned from the captivity, and all the people of Yahudah were newly gathered together, and the sacred vessels and the altar and the temple had been consecrated after their profanation. 

4 So they sent to every district of Samaria, and to Kuna and Bath-hurun and Balmain and Yarichu and to Chuba and Aasura and the valley of Salam, 

5 and immediately seized all the high hilltops and fortified the villages on them and stored up food in preparation for war, since their fields had recently been harvested. 

6 And Yuakim, the high Kuhan, who was in Yahushalam at that time, wrote to the people of Bathulia and Batumasthaim, which faces Asdraalun opposite the plain near Duthan, 

7 ordering them to seize the passes up into the hills, since by them Yahudah could be invaded, and it was easy to stop any who tried to enter, for the approach was narrow, only wide enough for two men at the most.

Prayer and Penance

8 So the Yasharalym did as Yuakim the high Kuhan and the elders of the whole people of Yashar'AL, in session at Yahushalam, had given order. 

9 And every man of Yashar'AL cried out to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH with great fervor, and they humbled themselves with much fasting. 

10 They and their wives and their children and their cattle and every resident alien and hired laborer and purchased slave, they all girded themselves with sackcloth. 

11 And all the men and women of Yashar'AL, and their children, living at Yahushalam, prostrated themselves before the temple and put ashes on their heads and spread out their sackcloth before 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH. 

12 They even surrounded the altar with sackcloth and cried out in unison, praying earnestly to the 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH of Yashar'AL not to give up their infants as prey and their wives as booty, and the cities they had inherited to be destroyed, and the sanctuary to be profaned and desecrated to the malicious joy of the other nations. 

13 So 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH heard their prayers and looked upon their affliction; for the people fasted many days throughout Yahudah and in Yahushalam before the sanctuary of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH Tsaba'ut. 

14 And Yuakim the high Kuhan and all the other Kuhanym who stood before  𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH and ministered to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH, with their loins girded with sackcloth, offered the continual burnt offerings and the vows and freewill offerings of the people. 

15 With ashes upon their turbans, they cried out to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH with all their might to look with favor upon the whole house of Yashar'AL.