17
So she said to the maids: Bring me oil, and washing balls, and shut the doors of the orchard, that I may wash me.
18
And they did as she bade them: and they shut the doors of the orchard, and went out by a back door to fetch what she had commanded them, and they knew not that the elders were hid within.
19
Now when the maids were gone forth, the two elders arose, and ran to her, and said:
20
Behold the doors of the orchard are shut, and nobody seeth us, and we are in love with thee: wherefore consent to us, and lie with us.
21
But if thou wilt not, we will bear witness against thee, that a young man was with thee, and therefore thou didst send away thy maids from thee.
22
Susanna sighed, and said: I am straitened on every side: for if I do this thing, it is death to me: and if I do it not, I shall not escape your hands.
23
But it is better for me to fall into your hands without doing it, than to sin in the sight of the Lord.
24
With that Susanna cried out with a loud voice: and the elders also cried out against her.
25
And one of them ran to the door of the orchard, and opened it.
26
So when the servants of the house heard the cry in the orchard, they rushed in by the back door to see what was the matter.
27
But after the old men had spoken, the servants were greatly ashamed: for never had there been any such word said of Susanna. And on the next day,