1
Now at that time Judith heard thereof, who was the daughter of Merari, the son of Ox, the son of Joseph, the son of Oziel, the son of Elkiah, the son of Ananias, the son of Gideon, the son of Raphaim, the son of Ahitub, the son of Elijah, the son of Eliab, the son of Nathanael, the son of Salamiel, the son of Sarasadai, the son of Israel.
2
And Manasseh was her husband, of her tribe and kindred, who died in the barley harvest.
3
For as he stood overseeing those who bound sheaves in the field, the heat came upon his head, and he fell on his bed and died in the city of Bethulia; and they buried him with his fathers in the field between Dothan and Balamon.
4
So Judith was a widow in her house three years and four months.
5
And she made a tent upon the top of her house, and put on sackcloth upon her loins and wore her widow's apparel.
6
And she fasted all the days of her widowhood, save the eves of the Sabbath and the Sabbaths, and the eves of the new moons and the new moons, and the feasts and solemn days of the house of Israel.
7
She was also of a goodly countenance, and very beautiful to behold. And her husband Manasseh had left her gold and silver, and menservants and maidservants, and cattle and lands; and she remained upon them.
8
And there was none who gave her an ill word, for she feared God greatly.