Some time ago, when this evil 18was done to us, we sent letters to our lord, to Yehohanan the high priest and his colleagues the priests in Jerusalem, to Avastana, brother 19of Anani, and to the Judean nobles. None of them ever replied to us. From the month of Tammuz in the fourteenth year of King Darius 20until this very day, we have continued wearing sackcloth and fasting. Our wives are made like widows. We do not anoint ourselves with oil, 21nor do we drink wine. And from that time until this,
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