1 Esdras 4:6-16

6 Likewise those who do not serve in the army or make war but till the soil, whenever they sow, reap the harvest and bring some to the king; and they compel one another to pay taxes to the king.
7 And yet he is only one man! If he tells them to kill, they kill; if he tells them to release, they release;
8 if he tells them to attack, they attack; if he tells them to lay waste, they lay waste; if he tells them to build, they build;
9 if he tells them to cut down, they cut down; if he tells them to plant, they plant.
10 All his people and his armies obey him. Moreover, he reclines, he eats and drinks and sleeps,
11 but they keep watch around him and no one may go away to attend to his own affairs, nor do they disobey him.
12 Gentlemen, why is not the king the strongest, since he is to be obeyed in this fashion?" And he stopped speaking.
13 Then the third, that is Zerubbabel, who had spoken of women and truth, began to speak:
14 Gentlemen, is not the king great, and are not men many, and is not wine strong? Who then is their master, or who is their lord? Is it not women?
15 Women gave birth to the king and to every people that rules over sea and land.
16 From women they came; and women brought up the very men who plant the vineyards from which comes wine.
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.