1. Then there rose a great outcry of the people and their wives against certain of their Jewish kindred.
2. Some said: “We are forced to pawn our sons and daughters in order to get grain to eat that we may live.”
3. Others said: “We are forced to pawn our fields, our vineyards, and our houses, that we may have grain during the famine.”
4. Still others said: “To pay the king’s tax we have borrowed money on our fields and vineyards.
5. And though these are our own kindred, and our children are as good as theirs, we have had to reduce our sons and daughters to slavery, and violence has been done to some of our daughters! Yet we can do nothing about it, for our fields and vineyards belong to others.”
6. I was extremely angry when I heard the reasons for their complaint.
7. After some deliberation, I called the nobles and magistrates to account, saying to them, “You are exacting interest from your own kindred!” I then rebuked them severely,
8. saying to them: “As far as we were able, we bought back our Jewish kindred who had been sold to Gentiles; you, however, are selling your own kindred, to have them bought back by us.” They remained silent, for they could find no answer.