Now our flesh is like the flesh of our brothers, our sons are like their sons. Look, we are subduing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and there are some from our daughters being molested. {We are powerless}, and our fields and vineyards [belong] to others."

And they sent a message to me four times like this, and I returned an answer like this to them.

And Sanballat sent his servant with an open letter, [another] word like this to me a fifth time, in his hand.

But I said, "Should a man like me run away? And would a man like me go into the temple so that he can save his life? I will not go in!"

And you divided the sea before them, and they passed through the sea on dry ground, but their pursuers you threw into the depths like a stone into mighty waters.

You made their children numerous like the stars of the heavens and brought them to the land that you told their ancestors to enter in order to take possession.

Did not King Solomon of Israel sin in this way? And among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was beloved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Yet the foreign women made even him sin.