2 Esdras 15 — Rahlfs Septuagint

ἦν κραυγὴ τοῦ λαοῦ καὶ γυναικῶν αὐτῶν μεγάλη πρὸς τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς αὐτῶν τοὺς Ιουδαίους

And there was a great cry of the people and of their women against their brothers, the Jews

ἦσάν τινες λέγοντες ἐν υἱοῖς ἡμῶν καὶ ἐν θυγατράσιν ἡμῶν ἡμεῖς πολλοί καὶ λημψόμεθα σῖτον καὶ φαγόμεθα καὶ ζησόμεθα

And there were some saying, among our sons and among our daughters, we are many, and we will take grain and eat and live.

3

εἰσίν τινες λέγοντες ἀγροὶ ἡμῶν καὶ ἀμπελῶνες ἡμῶν καὶ οἰκίαι ἡμῶν ἡμεῖς διεγγυῶμεν καὶ λημψόμεθα σῖτον καὶ φαγόμεθα

And there are some saying, Our fields and our vineyards and our houses, we will pledge, and we will receive grain and we will eat.

4

εἰσίν τινες λέγοντες ἐδανεισάμεθα ἀργύριον εἰς φόρους τοῦ βασιλέως ἀγροὶ ἡμῶν καὶ ἀμπελῶνες ἡμῶν καὶ οἰκίαι ἡμῶν

And there are some saying, We have borrowed silver for the king’s taxes, our fields and our vineyards and our houses.

5

And now, as the flesh of our brothers is our flesh, so are their sons our sons, and behold, we oppress our sons and our daughters as slaves, and some of our daughters are being oppressed, and there is no strength in our hands, and our fields and our vineyards belong to the honored ones.

6

ἐλυπήθην σφόδρα καθὼς ἤκουσα τὴν κραυγὴν αὐτῶν καὶ τοὺς λόγους τούτους

and I was exceedingly grieved when I heard their cry and these words

7

And my heart counseled against me, and I contended against the honorable men and the rulers, and I said to them, Does a man exact from his brother? You exact; and I made a great assembly over them.

8

And I said to them, We have acquired our brothers, the Jews who are being sold to the nations by our own will, and you sell your brothers; and they were silent and did not find an answer.

9

And I said, The word that you do is not good; will you not thus go away in the fear of our God from the reproach of the nations, our enemies?

10

And my brothers and my acquaintances and I put silver and grain among them; let us indeed abandon this demand.

11

Now therefore repay to them their fields, their vineyards, their olive trees, and their houses, as of today, and from the silver bring out to them the grain and the wine and the oil.

12

And they said, We will give back, and we will not ask from them; thus we will do as you say. And I called the priests and I adjured them to do according to this word.

13

and I shook off my cloak, and I said, so may God shake off every man who does not uphold this word from his house and from his toil; and he shall be thus shaken off and empty. And all the assembly said, Amen, and they praised the Lord, and the people did this word.

14

From the day when he commanded me to be ruler over them in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even until the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes, twelve years, I and my brothers did not eat their food by force.

15

and the former oppressions which before me they laid upon them, and they took from them in bread and in wine, at the last, forty shekels of silver; and those that were shaken off from them exercise authority over the people, and I did not do so because of the fear of God

16

ἐν ἔργῳ τοῦ τείχους τούτων οὐκ ἐκράτησα ἀγρὸν οὐκ ἐκτησάμην καὶ πάντες οἱ συνηγμένοι ἐκεῖ ἐπὶ τὸ ἔργον

And in the work of this wall I did not hold a field, I did not acquire one, and all those gathered there for the work

17

And the Jews, one hundred and fifty men, and those coming to us from the nations around us, at my table

18

And there was coming to be for one day one calf and six choice sheep and one goat were becoming to me, and among ten days in all wine for the multitude, and with these I did not seek bread of constraint, because the slavery is heavy upon this people.

19

μου ὁ θεός εἰς ἀγαθὸν πάντα ὅσα ἐποίησα τῷ λαῷ τούτῳ

Remember me, O God, for good, all that I have done for this people.