⁴ Still others were saying, “We have had to borrow money to pay the king’s tax^(A) on our fields and vineyards. ⁵ Although we are of the same flesh and blood^(B) as our fellow Jews and though our children are as good as theirs, yet we have to subject our sons and daughters to slavery.^(C) Some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but we are powerless, because our fields and our vineyards belong to others.”^(D)

⁶ When I heard their outcry and these charges, I was very angry.