Judith 11:12-14

New Catholic Bible

¹² “Since their food supply is exhausted and their water is desperately low, they have decided to slaughter their animals, and they are determined to consume all the things that God by his laws has forbidden them to eat. ¹³ They have decided to eat the firstfruits of the grain and the tithes of oil and wine that they had consecrated and reserved for the priests who minister in the presence of our God in Jerusalem—things it is unlawful for any layperson to so much as touch. ¹⁴ They have sent messengers to Jerusalem to seek authorization from the council of elders, since even the people there have been doing these things.