1 Then there was a great protest of the people and their wives against their fellow Jews.
2 Some said, "With our sons and daughters we are many, and we all need grain to eat and stay alive."
3 Others said, "We have to mortgage our fields, our vineyards, and our houses in order to get grain during the famine."
4 Still others said, "We have had to borrow money against our fields and vineyards in order to pay the king’s tax."