The Story of Susanna is set during the Babylonian exile, among the people of God living far from Jerusalem and far from the visible security of their own land. It is a story about beauty, corruption, false accusation, courage, and judgment. More deeply, it is a story about the terrible choice between appearing righteous before men and remaining righteous before God.
Susanna’s dilemma is simple and severe: she can preserve her reputation by yielding to evil, or she can lose her reputation by refusing it. She must choose whether she would rather look innocent in the eyes of men or be innocent in the sight of God.
Some churches receive this story as chapter 13 of Daniel. Others regard it as part of the Apocrypha rather than as canonical Scripture. We present it here as literature: a powerful ancient story, given without chapter or verse numbering, so that it may be read as a whole.
The Story of Susanna
There lived a man in Babylon named Joacim. He took a wife named Susanna, the daughter of Chelcias, a very beautiful woman who feared the Lord.
Her parents were also righteous, and had taught their daughter according to the law of Moses.
Joacim was a very rich man, and had a beautiful garden adjoining his house. The people in exile often came to him, because he was more honorable than all the others.
That same year two of the elders of the people were appointed as judges, the kind of men of whom the Lord had spoken when he said that wickedness came from Babylon through ancient judges who seemed to govern the people.
These men spent much time at Joacim’s house, and all who had legal disputes came to them.
When the people had left at noon, Susanna would go into her husband’s garden to walk.
The two elders saw her going in every day and walking there, and their lust was inflamed toward her.
They corrupted their own minds and turned their eyes away, so that they would not look toward heaven or remember just judgments.
Although both of them were wounded with desire for her, neither dared to tell the other of his passion.
They were ashamed to confess their lust and their desire to be with her.
Yet they watched carefully from day to day in order to see her.
One said to the other, “Let us go home now, for it is dinnertime.”
So they went out and separated from one another. But each turned back and came again to the same place. After they asked one another the reason, they confessed their lust. Then they appointed a time together when they might find her alone.
As they watched for a suitable time, she went in as before with only two maids, and she wanted to wash herself in the garden, for it was hot.
No one was there except the two elders, who had hidden themselves and were watching her.
Then she said to her maids, “Bring me oil and washing ointments, and shut the garden doors, so that I may wash.”
They did as she told them. They shut the garden doors and went out by private doors to fetch the things she had commanded them. But they did not see the elders, because they were hidden.
When the maids had gone out, the two elders rose up and ran to her, saying, “Look, the garden doors are shut, and no one can see us. We desire you; therefore consent to us and lie with us.
“If you will not, we will testify against you and say that a young man was with you, and that this is why you sent your maids away.”
Then Susanna sighed and said, “I am trapped on every side. If I do this thing, it is death to me; and if I do not do it, I cannot escape your hands.
“It is better for me to fall into your hands and not do it, than to sin in the sight of the Lord.”
Then Susanna cried out with a loud voice, and the two elders cried out against her.
One of them ran and opened the garden door.
When the servants of the house heard the cry in the garden, they rushed in by the private door to see what had happened to her.
But when the elders told their story, the servants were greatly ashamed, for no such report had ever been made about Susanna.
The next day, when the people were assembled at the house of her husband Joacim, the two elders came also, full of wicked intent against Susanna, intending to have her put to death.
They said before the people, “Send for Susanna, the daughter of Chelcias, Joacim’s wife.” So they sent for her.
She came with her father and mother, her children, and all her relatives.
Now Susanna was a very graceful woman, beautiful to look upon.
These wicked men commanded that her face be uncovered, for she was veiled, so that they might satisfy themselves with her beauty.
Therefore her friends and all who saw her wept.
Then the two elders stood up in the midst of the people and laid their hands upon her head.
She, weeping, looked up toward heaven, for her heart trusted in the Lord.
The elders said, “As we walked in the garden alone, this woman came in with two maids, shut the garden doors, and sent the maids away.
“Then a young man who was hidden there came to her and lay with her.
“We were standing in a corner of the garden, and when we saw this wickedness, we ran to them.
“When we saw them together, we could not hold the man, for he was stronger than we were. He opened the door and leaped out.
“But having taken this woman, we asked her who the young man was, but she would not tell us. These things we testify.”
Then the assembly believed them, because they were elders and judges of the people, and they condemned her to death.
Then Susanna cried out with a loud voice and said, “O everlasting God, who knows the secrets and knows all things before they happen,
“You know that they have borne false witness against me. And behold, I must die, though I have never done the things these men have maliciously invented against me.”
And the Lord heard her voice.
Therefore, as she was being led away to be put to death, the Lord raised up the holy spirit of a young youth whose name was Daniel.
He cried out with a loud voice, “I am innocent of the blood of this woman.”
Then all the people turned toward him and said, “What do these words mean that you have spoken?”
Standing in the midst of them, he said, “Are you such fools, you sons of Israel, that without examination or knowledge of the truth you have condemned a daughter of Israel?
“Return again to the place of judgment, for these men have borne false witness against her.”
So all the people quickly returned, and the elders said to him, “Come, sit among us and show it to us, since God has given you the honor of an elder.”
Then Daniel said to them, “Separate these two far from one another, and I will examine them.”
When they had been separated from one another, he called one of them and said to him, “O you who have grown old in wickedness, now the sins you committed before have come to light.
“For you have pronounced false judgment, condemned the innocent, and let the guilty go free, though the Lord says, ‘You shall not slay the innocent and righteous.’
“Now then, if you saw her, tell me: under what tree did you see them together?”
He answered, “Under a mastic tree.”
Daniel said, “Very well. You have lied against your own head, for even now the angel of God has received the sentence of God to cut you in two.”
So he put him aside and commanded them to bring the other. He said to him, “O seed of Canaan and not of Judah, beauty has deceived you, and lust has corrupted your heart.
“This is how you have dealt with the daughters of Israel, and they, out of fear, were with you; but the daughter of Judah would not endure your wickedness.
“Now therefore tell me: under what tree did you catch them together?”
He answered, “Under a holm tree.”
Then Daniel said to him, “Very well. You also have lied against your own head, for the angel of God waits with the sword to cut you in two, so that he may destroy you.”
Then all the assembly cried out with a loud voice and praised God, who saves those who trust in him.
They rose up against the two elders, for Daniel had convicted them of false witness by their own mouths.
According to the law of Moses, they did to them what they had maliciously intended to do to their neighbor, and they put them to death. Thus innocent blood was saved that same day.
Therefore Chelcias and his wife praised God for their daughter Susanna, along with Joacim her husband and all her relatives, because no dishonor was found in her.
From that day forward, Daniel was held in great reputation in the sight of the people.