Chapter 2: Anna’s Plight

1Now Joachim’s wife, Anna, mourned and lamented for two reasons. She said, “I lament that I’m a widow and that I don’t have a child.”

2Now the great day of the Lord was approaching, and her servant Juthine said to her, “How long are you going to humiliate your soul? Look, the great day of the Lord has approached, and it isn’t right for you to grieve. Take this headband that the leader of the workplace gave me. It isn’t right for me to wear it, since I’m your servant and it bears a royal mark.”

3Anna said, “Get away from me! I won’t do this. The Lord God has greatly humiliated me. Maybe a trickster gave this to you, and you’ve come to make me share in your sin.”

4Juthine the servant replied, “Why should I curse you, since you haven’t listened to me? The Lord God has made your womb infertile, giving you no fruit in Israel.”

5Anna was deeply grieved. She removed her mourning garment, washed her head, and put on her wedding garment. At about the ninth hour, she went down into her garden to walk around. She saw a laurel tree and sat beneath it. After resting, she petitioned the Lord, saying, “God of my ancestors, bless me and hear my prayer, just as you blessed our mother Sarah and gave her a son, Isaac.”