| 1 | There was a great King who sought harmony across his kingdom, |
| 2 | And that there was law and order and all debts were paid. |
| 3 | So he called each of his Lords to account of their affairs. |
| 4 | One Lord was brought before the great King owing one thousand talents. |
| 5 | But because he couldn't pay, the King commanded him to be sold, |
| 6 | With his wife, his children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. |
| 7 | The Lord then fell down and knelt before the King and said: Oh wise and benevolent King, |
| 8 | Pity your humble servant and have patience with me, for while it shall ruin me and my people, |
| 9 | Better I die trying to repay what I owe, than to bring dishonor to my lands. |
| 10 | The King upon hearing the great hardship that was to befall his Lord, did decree: |
| 11 | Upon this day and henceforth, as I now forgive my servants debts, |
| 12 | So shall all long term debts be forgiven, |
| 13 | That no man be required to die in debt and dishonor. |
| 14 | The Lord having his own debts forgiven returned to his lands, |
| 15 | Yet did not enact the laws of the King. |
| 16 | Instead, he forced upon his own servants a terrible toil and misery to pay their debts, |
| 17 | And destroyed homes and imprisoned even children for failure to repay debts. |
| 18 | When the Great King heard these terrible acts, |
| 19 | He had the Lord seized and brought before him in chains, saying thus: |
| 20 | Oh wicked and vile servant! By Divine Decree, I demanded that all debts be forgiven, |
| 21 | That as you so prayed to be forgiven, so even the poorest be forgiven their debts. |
| 22 | Yet in your arrogance you forgot both my power and my laws. |
| 23 | Henceforth, any Lord who fails to honor Divine Law is a tyrant, |
| 24 | And any lender who fails to forgive long term debtors is a thief. |
| 25 | And it be the sacred obligation upon every able bodied man, |
| 26 | That such vermin as these tyrants and thieves be extinguished from the earth. |
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