11
They came to her, and she said to them: "Listen to me, rulers of the people of Bethulia! What you have said to the people today is not right; you have even sworn and pronounced this oath between God and you, promising to surrender the town to our enemies unless the Lord turns and helps us within so many days.
12
Who are you to put God to the test today, and to set yourselves up in the place of God in human affairs?
13
You are putting the Lord Almighty to the test, but you will never learn anything!
14
You cannot plumb the depths of the human heart or understand the workings of the human mind; how do you expect to search out God, who made all these things, and find out his mind or comprehend his thought? No, my brothers, do not anger the Lord our God.
15
For if he does not choose to help us within these five days, he has power to protect us within any time he pleases, or even to destroy us in the presence of our enemies.
16
Do not try to bind the purposes of the Lord our God; for God is not like a human being, to be threatened, or like a mere mortal, to be won over by pleading.
17
Therefore, while we wait for his deliverance, let us call upon him to help us, and he will hear our voice, if it pleases him.
18
"For never in our generation, nor in these present days, has there been any tribe or family or people or town of ours that worships gods made with hands, as was done in days gone by.
19
That was why our ancestors were handed over to the sword and to pillage, and so they suffered a great catastrophe before our enemies.
20
But we know no other god but him, and so we hope that he will not disdain us or any of our nation.
21
For if we are captured, all Judea will be captured and our sanctuary will be plundered; and he will make us pay for its desecration with our blood.