Judith 4:11-13

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

¹¹ And all the Israelite men, women, and children living at Jerusalem prostrated themselves before the temple and put ashes on their heads and spread out their sackcloth before the Lord.^{(A) 12} They even draped the altar with sackcloth and cried out in unison, praying fervently to the God of Israel not to allow their infants to be carried off and their wives to be taken as plunder, and the towns they had inherited to be destroyed, and the sanctuary to be profaned and desecrated to the malicious joy of the nations.

¹³ The Lord heard their prayers and had regard for their distress, for the people fasted many days throughout Judea and in Jerusalem before the sanctuary of the Lord Almighty.^(B)