Judith 4 When the children of Israel that dwelt in Iurie heard this, they were sore afrayde of him.

Bishops⁽ⁱ⁾ ¹ When the children of Israel that dwelt in Iurie heard this, they were sore afrayde of him. ² There came such trembling also & feare vpon them, lest he shoulde do vnto the citie of Hierusalem and the temple of the Lord, as he had done to other cities and their temples. ³ So they sent into all Samaria rounde about vnto Iericho, [toke in] and occupied all the toppes of the mountaynes: ⁴ And made fast the townes with walles, and prepared corne for them against the battayle. ⁵ Eliacim also the priest wrote vnto all them that dwelt towarde Esdrelon, which lieth ouer against the great fielde by Dothain, & vnto all those by whom men might haue passage vnto them, ⁶ That they shoulde take in the wayes of the mountaynes, whereby there might be any way and passage to Hierusalem, and that they shoulde holde diligent watch where any strayte was betwixte the mountaynes. ⁷ And the children of Israel dyd as Eliacim the priest of the Lorde had commaunded them. ⁸ And all the people cryed vnto the Lord earnestly, and humbled their soules with fasting and prayers, they & their wiues: ⁹ The priestes put on heery clothes, and layed the young babes before the temple of the Lord, and couered the aulter of the Lorde with an heery cloth: ¹⁰ And with one accorde they cryed vnto the Lorde God of Israel, that their children should not be geuen into a pray, and their wiues into a spoyle, that their cities should not be layed waste, and that their sanctuarie shoulde not be vnhalowed, and so they to be a shame and rebuke vnto the heathen. ¹¹ Then Eliacim the hye priest of the Lord, went rounde about al Israel, and spake vnto them, ¹² Saying: Be ye sure that the Lord will heare your petitions, if ye continue stedfast in fastinges and prayers in the sight of the Lorde. ¹³ Remember Moyses the seruaunt of the Lorde, which ouerthrewe the Amalechites that trusted in their might and power, in their hoast, in their shieldes, in their charets and horsemen, not with weapons, but with holy prayers. ¹⁴ Euen so shall all the enemies of Israel be, if ye continue in this worke that ye haue begun. ¹⁵ So vpon this exhortation they continued in prayer before the Lorde. ¹⁶ In so much that they whiche offered burnt sacrifices vnto the Lord, offred the offringes vnto the Lorde, beyng arayed in heery clothes, and had asshes vpon their heades. ¹⁷ And they all besought God from their whole heart, that he woulde visite his people of Israel.