Nehemiah 5
1 And the cry of the people and their wives [was] great against their brethren the Jews.
About that time there was a great outcry from the people and their wives against their fellow Jews.
2 And some said, We [are] numerous with our sons and our daughters; so we will take corn, and eat, and live.
Some were saying, “We and our sons and daughters are numerous. We must get grain in order to eat and stay alive.”
3 And some said, [As to] our fields and vineyards and houses, let us pledge [them], and we will take corn, and eat.
Others were saying, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our homes to get grain during the famine.”
4 And some said, We have borrowed money for the king's tributes: —our fields, and our vineyards, and houses [are pledged].
Still others were saying, “We have borrowed money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards.
5 And now our flesh [is] as the flesh of our brethren, our children [are] as their children: yet, behold, we are reducing our sons and our daughters to slavery, and some of our daughters are enslaved: and there is no power of our hands, for our fields and our vineyards [belong] to the nobles.
We and our children are just like our countrymen and their children, yet we are subjecting our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters are already enslaved, but we are powerless to redeem them because our fields and vineyards belong to others.”
6 And I was much grieved as I heard their cry and these words.
When I heard their outcry and these complaints, I became extremely angry,
7 And my heart took counsel within me, and I contended against the nobles, and the princes, and I said to them, Should every man demand of his brother what ye demand? And I appointed against them a great assembly,
and after serious thought I rebuked the nobles and officials, saying, “You are exacting usury from your own brothers!” So I called a large assembly against them
8 and I said to them, We of our free-will have redeemed our brethren the Jews that were sold to the Gentiles; and do ye sell your brethren? and shall they be delivered to us? And they were silent, and found no answer.
and said, “We have done our best to buy back our Jewish brothers who were sold to foreigners, but now you are selling your own brothers, that they may be sold back to us!” But they remained silent, for they could find nothing to say.
9 And I said, The thing which ye do [is] not good; ye will not so walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the Gentiles our enemies.
So I continued, “What you are doing is not right. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our foreign enemies?
10 Both my brethren, and my acquaintances, and I, have lent them money and corn: let us now leave off this exaction.
I, as well as my brothers and my servants, have been lending the people money and grain. Please, let us stop this usury.
11 Restore to them, I pray, as at this day, their fields, and their vineyards, and their olive-yards, and their houses, and bring forth to them corn and wine and oil of the money.
Please restore to them immediately their fields, vineyards, olive groves, and houses, along with the percentage of the money, grain, new wine, and oil that you have been assessing them.”
12 And they said, We will restore, and we will not exact of them; we will do thus as thou sayest. Then I called the priests, and bound them by oath to do according to this word.
“We will restore it,” they replied, “and will require nothing more from them. We will do as you say.” So I summoned the priests and required of the nobles and officials an oath that they would do what they had promised.
13 And I shook out my garment, and said, So may God shake out every man who shall not keep to this word, from his house, and from his labours, he shall be even thus shaken out, as an outcast and empty. And all the congregation said, Amen, and they praised the Lord: and the people did this thing.
I also shook out the folds of my robe and said, “May God likewise shake out of His house and possession every man who does not keep this promise. May such a man be shaken out and have nothing!” The whole assembly said, “Amen,” and they praised the LORD. And the people did as they had promised.
14 From the day that he charged me to be their ruler in the land of Juda, from the twentieth year even to the thirty-second year of Arthasastha, twelve years, I and my brethren ate not [provision] extorted from them.
Furthermore, from the day King Artaxerxes appointed me to be their governor in the land of Judah, from his twentieth year until his thirty-second year (twelve years total), neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor.
15 But as for the former acts of extortion wherein [those who were] before me oppressed them, they even took of them their last money, forty didrachms for bread and wine; and the [very] outcasts of them exercised authority over the people: but I did not so, because of the fear of God.
The governors before me had heavily burdened the people, taking from them bread and wine plus forty shekels of silver. Their servants also oppressed the people, but I did not do this because of my fear of God.
16 Also in the work of the wall I treated them not with rigor, I bought not land: and all that were gathered together [came] thither to the work.
Instead, I devoted myself to the construction of the wall, and all my servants were gathered there for the work; we did not acquire any land.
17 And the Jews, to [the number of] a hundred and fifty men, besides those coming to us from the nations round about, [were] at my table.
There were 150 Jews and officials at my table, besides the guests from the surrounding nations.
18 And there came [to me] for one day one calf, and I had six choice sheep and a goat; and every ten days wine in abundance of all sorts: yet with these I required not the bread of extortion, because the bondage was heavy upon this people.
Each day one ox, six choice sheep, and some fowl were prepared for me, and once every ten days an abundance of all kinds of wine was provided. But I did not demand the food allotted to the governor, because the burden on the people was so heavy.
19 Remember me, O God, for good, [in] all that I have done to this people.
Remember me favorably, O my God, for all that I have done for this people.
