Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as theirchildren: and, lo, we bringintobondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are broughtuntobondagealready: neither is it in our power to redeemthem; for other men have our lands and vineyards.
Then I consultedwithmyself, and I rebuked the nobles, and the rulers, and saiduntothem, Ye exactusury, every one of his brother. And I set a greatassemblyagainstthem.
And I saiduntothem, We after our abilityhaveredeemed our brethren the Jews, whichweresoldunto the heathen; and will ye evensellyourbrethren? or shallthey be soldunto us? Thenheldtheytheirpeace, and foundnothing to answer.
Restore, I pray you, to them, eventhis day, theirlands, theirvineyards, theiroliveyards, and theirhouses, also the hundredthpart of the money, and of the corn, the wine, and the oil, that ye exact of them.
Thensaidthey, We willrestorethem, and willrequirenothing of them; so will we do as thousayest. Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, thattheyshould do according to thispromise.
Also I shook my lap, and said, So God shake out every man from his house, and from his labour, thatperformeth not thispromise, eventhus be he shaken out, and emptied. And all the congregationsaid, Amen, and praised the LORD. And the people did according to thispromise.
Moreoverfrom the timethat I was appointed to be theirgovernor in the land of Judah, from the twentiethyearevenunto the two and thirtiethyear of Artaxerxes the king, that is, twelveyears, I and my brethrenhave not eaten the bread of the governor.
But the formergovernorsthat had beenbefore me werechargeableunto the people, and had taken of thembread and wine, besidefortyshekels of silver; yea, eventheirservantsbareruleover the people: but so did not I, because of the fear of God.
Now thatwhich was prepared for me daily was one ox and six choicesheep; alsofowlswereprepared for me, and once in ten daysstore of all sorts of wine: yet for all thisrequired not I the bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavyuponthispeople.