1. In Babylon there lived a man named Joakim,
2. who married a very beautiful and God-fearing woman, Susanna, the daughter of Hilkiah;
3. her parents were righteous and had trained their daughter according to the law of Moses.
4. Joakim was very rich and he had a garden near his house. The Jews had recourse to him often because he was the most respected of them all.
5. That year, two elders of the people were appointed judges, of whom the Lord said, “Lawlessness has come out of Babylon, that is, from the elders who were to govern the people as judges.”