1
Now there arose a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brethren.
2
For there were those who said, "With our sons and our daughters, we are many; let us get grain, that we may eat and keep alive."
3
There were also those who said, "We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses to get grain because of the famine."
4
And there were those who said, "We have borrowed money for the king's tax upon our fields and our vineyards.
5
Now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children are as their children; yet we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have already been enslaved; but it is not in our power to help it, for other men have our fields and our vineyards."
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.