1 Then there was a great outcry from the people and their wives to their fellow Jews.
2 There were those who said, “We and our sons and our daughters are numerous. We must take grain, so we may eat and live.”
3 There were others who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our houses in order to obtain grain during the famine.”
4 Still others were saying, “We have borrowed money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards.