Susanna (Book of Daniel)

The story of Susanna and the Elders is found in some Bibles inside a chapter of the Book of Daniel. These sections are sometimes called Additions to Daniel. Modern Jewish and Protestant Bibles do not have this story but Catholic and Orthodox ones have it. This story is found before Daniel 1:1 as a prologue in very old Greek texts. It is found as chapter 13 in the Vulgate and modern Catholic Bibles.

In the story, two bad judges secretly want to have sexual intercourse with Susanna, a beautiful and virtuous wife. A judge in ancient Israel was an important person who could make decisions about the life of other people. A bad judge was someone who used their power to help themself instead of to support Justice.

One hot day, she takes a bath inside her walled garden but she does not know that the judges are hiding inside the garden. The judges tell her to have sex with them but she doesn't want to. When she refuses, they tell the people of the village that they saw her having sex with a man who was not her husband. This is called adultery, which was against the law at that time. The people of the village believe the judges and want to kill Susanna. A boy named Daniel does not believe the judges, so he asks one of the judges to go away and the other one to say what he saw. Daniel does this again with the other judge. The judges tell different stories, showing that they lied. The people get mad and kill the judges instead.