Helen R. Graham, M.M. (“But You Are the God of the Lowly, Helper of the Oppressed: God in the Prayer of Judith—Jdt. 9:1–14”) discusses how the deuterocanonical book of Judith presents God as the champion of the poor and the oppressed through the heroine’s theology and prayer. Chiding Uzziah and the people of Bethulia for giving God a deadline to save them, after which they would surrender to their enemies, Judith “speaks of the freedom of God to save or not to save.” Graham notes: “God is radically free and is not to be threatened or cajoled … Judith’s radical monotheism puts all in God’s hands … the people are only to call upon God, trust God, and wait for God’s deliverance if indeed it is God’s good pleasure to deliver.” Moreover, God tests and educates his people through suffering. Judith’s prayer contains a number of epithets—e.g., God of my ancestor, defender of widows, divine warrior, God of the lowly, king of all creation, God of all power and might—which portray in various ways the God of Israel as the one “who executes justice for the orphan and the widow” (Deut. 10:18). – from the Editor’s Preface