1. A man named Joakim once lived in Babylon.
2. His wife Susanna, Hilkiah’s daughter, was very beautiful and honored the Lord.
3. Her parents were good people, and they taught their daughter according to the Law from Moses.
4. Joakim was very rich, and he had a large private garden next to his home. The Jews came to him because he was the most honored among them.
5. Two elders among the people had been appointed as judges that year. It was about them that the Lord had spoken: "Lawless disorder has come out of Babylon, from elders, from judges who were supposed to guide the people."
6. These men spent a lot of time at Joakim’s house, and all the people with lawsuits came to them.