Page 283 - Bible History

256 GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE IN CAPTIVITY
men. Sennacherib was so frightened by the slaughter that he returned to Assyria without tribute from Ezechias. He did not annoy the Kingdom of Juda agam.
Ezechias recaptured the cities which had been taken from his father by the Philistines. He strengthened the forti cations of his kingdom and improved the defenses of Jerusalem. He provided a water supply for the city, which would make it safe in time of siege.
4. JUDITH SA S THE KINGDOM
Assyria's After the death of Ezechias, when the wicked
s nd attack
Manasses was king of Juda, the Assyrians made a second attack upon that kingdom. Jerusalem was captured and Manasses led as a captive to Babylon.
Holofernes, an Assyrian general, with an army of one hundred and twenty thousand footmen and twenty thousand horsemen, laid siege to the city of Bethulia. The people defended the city bravely, but when the Assyrians cut o their water supply, they begged their leader to surrender. They held a council of war and decided that, if no help came within ve days, they would give up the city.
Judith was a rich, beautiful, and virtuous widow of the city of Bethulia. She rebuked the chief men of the city for setting a time limit to the power of God, and promised to put an end to the siege. She prayed for success and then set out for the Assyrian camp. She was brought before Holofernes. She told him that she ed from the city to escape the cruelty of his soldiers
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