CLV(i)
1 And there is a great cry of the people and their wives, concerning their brethren the Jews,
2 yea, there are who are saying, `Our sons, and our daughters, we--are many, and we receive corn, and eat, and live..
3 And there are who are saying, `Our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses, we are pledging, and we receive corn for the famine..
4 And there are who are saying, `We have borrowed money for the tribute of the king, [on] our fields, and our vineyards;"
5 and now, as the flesh of our brethren [is] our flesh, as their sons [are] our sons, and lo, we are subduing our sons and our daughters for servants, and there are of our daughters subdued, and our hand has no might, and our fields and our vineyards [are] to others..
6 And it is very displeasing to me when I have heard their cry and these words,
7 and my heart reigns over me, and I strive with the freemen, and with the prefects, and say to them, `Usury one upon another you are exacting;' and I set against them a great assembly,
8 and say to them, `We have acquired our brethren the Jews, those sold to the nations, according to the ability that [is] in us, and you also sell your brethren, and they have been sold to us!' and they are silent, and have not found a word.
9 And I say, `Not good [is] the thing that you are doing; in the fear of our Elohim do you not walk, because of the reproach of the nations our enemies?
10 And also, I, my brethren, and my servants, are exacting of them silver and corn; let us leave off, I pray you, this usury.
11 Give back, I pray you, to them, as to-day, their fields, their vineyards, their olive-yards, and their houses, and the hundredth [part] of the money, and of the corn, of the new wine, and of the oil, that you are exacting of them..