1And there is a great cry of the people and their wives, concerning their brothers the Jews,

2indeed, there are [those] who are saying, “Our sons, and our daughters, we—are many, and we receive grain, and eat, and live.”

3And there are [those] who are saying, “Our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses, we are pledging, and we receive grain for the famine.”

4And there are [those] who are saying, “We have borrowed money for the tribute of the king, [on] our fields, and our vineyards;

5and now, as the flesh of our brothers [is] our flesh, as their sons [are] our sons, and behold, we are subduing our sons and our daughters for servants, and there are [those] of our daughters subdued, and our hand has no might, and our fields and our vineyards [are] to others.”

6And it is very displeasing to me when I have heard their cry and these words,

7and my heart reigns over me, and I strive with the nobles, and with the prefects, and say to them, “You are exacting usury on one another”; and I set against them a great assembly,

8and say to them, “We have acquired our brothers the Jews, those sold to the nations, according to the ability that [is] in us, and you also sell your brothers, and they have been sold to us!” And they are silent, and have not found a word.

9And I say, “The thing that you are doing [is] not good; do you not walk in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the nations our enemies?

10And also, I, my brothers, and my servants, are exacting silver and grain on them; please let us leave off this usury.

11Please give back to them, as today, their fields, their vineyards, their olive-yards, and their houses, and the hundredth [part] of the money, and of the grain, of the new wine, and of the oil, that you are exacting of them.”

12And they say, “We give back, and we seek nothing from them; so we do as you are saying.” And I call the priests, and cause them to swear to do according to this thing;

13also, I have shaken my lap, and I say, “Thus God shakes out every man from his house and from his labor who does not perform this thing; indeed, thus is he shaken out and empty”; and all the assembly says, “Amen,” and praises YHWH; and the people do according to this thing.

14Also, from the day that he appointed me to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king—twelve years—I, and my brothers, have not eaten the bread of the governor:

15the former governors who [are] before me have made themselves heavy on the people, and take of them in bread and wine, besides forty shekels in silver; also, their servants have ruled over the people—and I have not done so, because of the fear of God.

16And also, in the work of this wall I have done mightily, even a field we have not bought, and all my servants are gathered there for the work;

17and of the Jews, and of the prefects, one hundred and fifty men, and those coming to us of the nations that [are] around us, [are] at my table;

18and that which has been prepared for one day [is] one ox, six fat sheep, also birds have been prepared for me, and once in ten days of all wines abundantly, and with this, the bread of the governor I have not sought, for heavy is the service on this people.

19Remember for me, O my God, for good, all that I have done for this people.