1 Then some of the people, the men and their wives, complained publicly about their Jewish relatives.
2 Some of them said, “We have large families! We need some grain ⌊if we are going⌋ to eat and stay alive.”
3 Others said, “We’ve had to mortgage our fields, our vineyards, and our homes in order to get some grain because of this famine.”
4 Others said, “We’ve had to borrow money to pay the king’s taxes on our fields and vineyards.