Then there were those who said, “We have borrowed money to pay our taxes to the king ¹  on our fields and our vineyards.

And now, though we share the same flesh and blood as our fellow countrymen, ¹  and our children are just like their children, ²  still we have found it necessary to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. ³  Some of our daughters have been subjected to slavery, while we are powerless to help, ⁴  since our fields and vineyards now belong to other people.” ⁵ 

This very day return to them their fields, their vineyards, their olive trees, and their houses, along with the interest ¹  that you are exacting from them on the money, the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil.”

There were 150 Jews and officials who dined with me routinely, ¹  in addition to those who came to us from the nations ²  all around us.

For forty years you sustained them. Even in the desert they never lacked anything. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.

They said to me, “The remnant that remains from the exile there in the province are experiencing considerable ¹  adversity and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem lies breached, and its gates have been burned down!” ² 

Then I went to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, and I presented to them the letters from the king. The king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen.

Its abundant produce goes to the kings you have placed over us due to our sins. They rule over our bodies and our livestock as they see fit, ¹  and we are in great distress!

At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, ¹  they sought out the Levites from all the places they lived ²  to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication joyfully with songs of thanksgiving and songs accompanied by cymbals, harps, and lyres.

“Due to your great compassion you did not abandon them in the desert. The pillar of cloud did not stop guiding them in the path by day, ¹  nor did the pillar of fire stop illuminating for them by night the path on which they should travel.

So I entered a complaint with them. I called down a curse on them, and I struck some of the men and pulled out their hair. I had them swear by God saying, “You will not marry off ¹  your daughters to their sons, and you will not take any of their daughters as wives for your sons or for yourselves!