¹Then there was a great outcry from the people and their wives to their brothers the Jews. ²And there were some who said, “We, our sons and our daughters, are many, and we need to get corn and eat to survive.” ³And there were some who said, “We are mortgaging our fields and our vineyards and our houses, so that we can get corn in the famine.” ⁴And there were some who said, “We have borrowed money for the king's tax on our fields and our vineyards. ⁵And although our flesh is like the flesh of our brothers, and our sons are like their sons, yet see how we are reducing our sons and our daughters to slavery, and there are some of our daughters so reduced, and it is out of our control, and others have our fields and our vineyards.” ⁶And it infuriated me greatly when I heard their cry and these things. ⁷And my heart commended itself to me, and I took issue with the nobles and the administrators, and I said to them, “Each of you is bringing his brother into debt.” And I presented a large assembly against them. ⁸And I said to them, “We have redeemed our brothers the Jews who were sold to the Gentiles as much as we could. Now would you even sell your brothers, so that they are sold back to us?” And they were silent and did not find a word to say. ⁹And I said, “The thing you are doing is not right. Should you not walk in the fear of our God, rather than the reproachful way of the nations which are our enemies? ¹⁰But I too, my brothers, and my servant-lads have been lending them money and corn on interest, but let us please discontinue this lending on interest. ¹¹Do restore to them today their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves and their houses, and the one per cent monthly interest on their money and corn and new wine and fresh oil which you have been lending them on interest.” ¹²And they said, “We will restore them, and we will not require anything of them. As you have said, so we shall do.” Then I called the priests, and I had them swear to do this undertaking. ¹³I also shook the breast fold of my garment, and I said, “So shall God shake every man who does not fulfil this undertaking, out of his house and out of his livelihood, and so he will be shaken out and empty.” And the whole convocation said, “Amen.” And they praised the Lord, and the people acted according to this proceeding. ¹⁴Moreover from the day when I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king – twelve years – neither I nor my brothers ate the governor's fare. ¹⁵But the previous governors who were before me had weighed down heavily on the people, and they had taken bread and wine from them to the value of forty shekels. Even their servants lorded it over the people, but I did not act like that, because of the fear of God. ¹⁶And I also persevered in the work of this wall, and we did not buy a field, and all my servant-lads were gathered there for the work. ¹⁷And the Jews and the administrators – one hundred and fifty men – and those who came to us from the nations around us, were at my table. ¹⁸And this is what was prepared for one day: one ox, six choice sheep; and poultry was prepared for me, and at ten day intervals all sorts of wine in abundance. But nevertheless, I did not require the governor's fare, because the work was a heavy load on this people. ¹⁹Remember me, O God of mine, favourably, for everything I have done concerning this people.