Susanna was the wife of a wealthy Jew of the Babylonian exile community. Two corrupt elders of the community had often watched her bathing in her enclosed garden; their lust grew to a plan, and they ambushed her one day, demanding that she lie with them. If she refused, they would testify that they had seen her commit adultery with a young man under the trees.
Susanna chose death over sin: 'It is better for me to fall into your hands than to sin in the sight of the Lord!' They accused her at the public assembly; she was condemned to be stoned. As she was led to execution, a young man named Daniel — moved by the Holy Spirit — interrupted: 'Are you such fools, you sons of Israel? Have you condemned a daughter of Israel without examination and without learning the facts?' Daniel separated the two elders and questioned each: 'Under what tree did you see them?' One said a mastic tree; the other said an evergreen oak. Their lie was exposed. Susanna was vindicated; the two elders were put to death. The episode is the foundational scriptural witness to the right of the accused to cross-examination of witnesses — a principle that ran through Roman and canonical jurisprudence into the modern Western legal tradition.