Nehemiah 5:2-4

New Catholic Bible

² Some were vehement in their complaints that they were forced to pledge their sons and daughters in order to obtain grain so that they might eat and stay alive. ³ Others asserted that they were forced to mortgage their fields, their vineyards, and their houses in order to survive.

⁴ Furthermore, there were those who said: “We are being forced to borrow money on our fields and vineyards in order to pay the king’s tax.