Judith 11:12-14

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

¹² Since their food supply is exhausted and their water has almost given out, they have planned to kill their cattle and have determined to use all that God by his laws has forbidden them to eat. ¹³ They have decided to consume the first fruits of the grain and the tithes of the wine and oil, which they had consecrated and set aside for the priests who minister in the presence of our God at Jerusalem—although it is not lawful for any of the people so much as to touch these things with their hands. ¹⁴ They have sent men to Jerusalem, because even the people living there have been doing this, to bring back to them permission from the senate.