Nehemiah 5
1 [Later, ] many of the men and their wives protested loudly about what [some of] the [other] Jews were doing.
Yon lè, moun pèp Izrayèl yo ansanm ak tout madanm yo konmanse plenyen sou do kèk chèf jwif parèy yo.
2 Some/One of them said, “We have many children. So we need a lot of grain to be able to eat and continue to live.”
Genyen ki t'ap di: Nou gen anpil moun nan fanmi nou, anpil pitit gason ak anpil pitit fi. Nou bezwen manje pou n' manje pou n' pa mouri grangou.
3 Others said, “The fields and vineyards and houses that we own, it has been necessary for us to (mortgage them/promise to give them to someone if we do not pay back to him the money he has loaned us) in order to get money to buy grain, during this (famine/time where there is not much food).”
Gen lòt ki t'ap di: Nou te gen yon sèl grangou ki t'ap bat nou, nou setoblije pran potèk sou jaden nou, sou pye rezen nou yo, sou kay nou pou n' ka jwenn manje pou n' manje.
4 Others said, “We have [needed to] borrow money to pay the taxes that the king [commanded us to pay] on our fields and our vineyards.
Gen lòt ankò ki t'ap di: Pou n' te ka peye taks kontribisyon pou wa a, nou te setoblije prete lajan sou jaden ak pye rezen nou yo.
5 We are Jews just like [IDM] they are. Our children are ([just as good as/equal with)] their children. But we have needed to sell some of our children to become slaves [in order to pay what we owe]. We have already sold some of our daughters to become slaves. Our fields and vineyards have been taken away from us, so now we do not have [the money to pay what we owe, and we are forced to sell our children to get money to pay those debts].”
Nou menm ras ak lòt jwif yo. Pitit nou yo pa pi mal pase pa yo. Men, nou setoblije bay pitit fi nou ak pitit gason nou yo sèvi domestik lakay yo. Nou menm rive gen pitit fi nou k'ap fè restavèk! Nou pa ka fè anyen kont sa, paske jaden nou yo ak pye rezen nou yo pa pou nou ankò.
6 I was very angry when I heard these things that they were complaining about.
Lè mwen menm, Neemi, mwen tande tout plent sa yo, tout pawòl sa yo, mwen te fache anpil.
7 So I thought about what I could do about it. I told the leaders and officials [who were responsible for this work], “You are charging interest to your own relatives [when they borrow money from you]!” Then I called together a large group of people,
Lè m' fin kalkile bagay la byen nan kè m', mwen fè lide pa dòmi sou sa. Mwen denonse chèf yo, grannèg yo ak majistra yo. Mwen di yo se esplwate y'ap esplwate frè parèy yo. Mwen fè reyini tout moun pou diskite pwoblèm lan.
8 and I said to their [leaders], “Some of our Jewish relatives have been forced to sell themselves to become slaves of people who have come from other countries. As much as we have been able to, we have been buying them back [out of slavery]. But now you are forcing your own relatives to sell themselves to you, their fellow Jews, as slaves!” [When I said that to them, ] they were silent. There was nothing that they could say [because they knew that what I said was true].
Epi mwen di: -Nou fè sa nou te kapab pou nou te rachte frè jwif parèy nou yo ki te vann tèt yo bay moun lòt nasyon pou sèvi yo esklav. Koulye a, se nou menm jwif k'ap fòse jwif parèy nou vann tèt yo bay jwif parèy yo! Tout moun rete bouch pe, yo pa t' gen anyen pou reponn nan sa.
9 Then I said to them, “What you are doing is terrible [EUP]! You certainly ought to [RHQ] obey God and do what is right! If you did that, our enemies who do not revere Yahweh [would see that we are doing what is right and] would not ridicule us.
Mwen di yo ankò: -Sa n'ap fè la a pa bon, tande! Se pou n' mache avèk krentif pou Bondye, pou nou pa bay moun lòt nasyon yo, lènmi nou yo, okazyon pase nou nan betiz.
10 My fellow Jews and I and my servants have lent money and grain to people [without charging interest]. So you all should stop charging interest on these loans.
Moun lakay mwen yo ansanm ak moun pa m' yo tou, ak mwen menm tou, nou te prete yo lajan ak ble. Nou p'ap mande yo pou yo renmèt nou sa yo dwe nou.
11 Also, you must give back to them their fields, their vineyards, their olive tree orchards, and their houses that you have taken from them. You must also give back to them the interest that you charged them when they borrowed money, grain, wine, and [olive] oil from you, and you must do it today!”
Renmèt yo jaden yo, pye rezen yo, pye oliv yo ak kay yo touswit. Kite tou sa yo dwe nou pou yo, kit se lajan, kit se ble, kit se diven, kit se lwil.
12 The leaders replied, “We will do what you have said. We will return to them everything that we forced them to give to us, and we will not require that they give us anything more.” Then I summoned the priests, and I forced the leaders to vow in front of them that they would do what they had promised to do.
Chèf yo reponn: -Wi! N'ap fè jan ou di l' la. N'ap renmèt yo tou sa yo te ban nou kenbe pou dèt yo. Nou p'ap mande yo pou yo peye nou sa yo dwe nou. Lè sa a, mwen fè rele prèt yo, epi mwen fè chèf yo sèmante y'ap fè sa yo sot pwomèt la.
13 I shook out the folds of my robe and said to them, “If you do not do what you have just now promised to do, I hope/desire that God will shake you like I am shaking my robe. He will take away your homes and everything else that you own.” They all replied, “Amen/May it be so!” And they praised Yahweh. Then they did what they had promised to do.
Apre sa, mwen pran ti sak ki te mare nan ren mwen an, mwen vire l' tèt anba, mwen souke l', epi mwen di: -Se pou Bondye pran nenpòt nan nou ki pa kenbe pwomès li, pou l' souke l' konsa tou. Bondye ap pran kay li ak tout lòt byen li genyen, l'ap kite l' san anyen. Tout moun ki te la yo reponn: -Amèn! Se sa menm! Se sa menm! Apre sa, yo fè lwanj Seyè a. Se konsa tout pèp la te kenbe pwomès yo te fè a.
14 I was appointed to be the governor of Judea in the twentieth year that Artaxerxes was the king [of Persia]. For the next twelve years, until he had been ruling for almost 32 years, neither I nor my officials accepted [the money that we were allowed/entitled to receive to buy] food because of my being the governor.
Pandan tout douzan mwen pase gouvènè nan peyi Jida a, depi jou wa Atagzèsès te nonmen m' nan pòs sa a, lè sa a li t'ap mache sou ventan depi li te wa, rive sou tranndezan depi li t'ap gouvènen an, ni mwen ni ankenn moun lakay mwen, nou pa janm manyen lajan yo te dwe peye gouvènè a.
15 The men who were governors before I became the governor had burdened the people by requiring them to pay a lot of taxes. They had forced each person to pay to them 40 silver coins every day, in addition to giving food and wine to them. Even their servants/officials oppressed the people. But I did not do that, because I revered God.
Gouvènè ki te la anvan m' yo te konn ap peze pèp la: chak jou yo te konn pran karant pyès an ajan pou pen ak diven. Ata moun ki t'ap travay avèk yo te konn ap peze pèp la tou. Men mwen menm, mwen pa t' fè sa, paske mwen te gen krentif Bondye.
16 I also continued to work on the wall, and I did not take land from people [who were unable to pay back the money that they had borrowed from me]. All those who worked for me joined me to work on the wall.
Mwen te mete men nan travay ranpa a tankou tout moun, mwen pa achte ankenn tè, epi tout moun ki t'ap travay avè m' yo te la tou nan travay miray la.
17 Also, every day I was responsible to feed 150 Jewish officials, and also [official] visitors who came from nearby countries.
Chak jou mwen te gen sansenkant (150) moun ap manje sou menm tab avè m' lakay mwen: se te chèf yo ak majistra yo, san konte tout lòt moun ki te vin lakay mwen soti nan lòt peyi nan vwazinaj la.
18 Each day I [told my servants to] serve [us the meat from] one ox, six very good sheep, and chickens. And every ten days I gave them a large new supply of wine. But I knew that the people were burdened [by paying lots of taxes], so I did not accept [the money that I was entitled/allowed to receive to buy all this] food because of my being the governor.
Chak jou mwen te fè yo kwit pou mwen yon bèf, sis bon mouton byen gra ak anpil bèt volay. Se mwen menm ki te peye pou tout bagay sa yo ak lajan nan pòch mwen. Chak dis jou mwen fè yon pwovizyon diven fre. Men, malgre sa, mwen pa janm mande pou yo ban mwen sa pou yo bay gouvènè a pou manje l', paske pèp la te gen kont chay sou do li deja.
19 My God, do not forget me, and reward me because of all that I have done for these people.
Bondye mwen, tanpri, pa bliye anyen nan tou sa mwen fè pou pèp sa a. Make sa yon kote pou mwen!
