Nehemiah 5
1 [Later, ] many of the men and their wives protested loudly about what [some of] the [other] Jews were doing.
Alò, te gen yon gwo kriye a moun sa yo avèk madanm pa yo kont frè 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.”
Paske te gen nan yo ki te di: “Nou menm, fis nou yo avèk fi nou yo anpil; pou sa, kite nou jwenn sereyal pou nou kab manje e viv.”
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).”
Te gen lòt ki te di: “Nou ap prete kòb kont chan nou yo, chan rezen yo, avèk kay nou yo pou nou kab twouve sereyal pou nou manje akoz gwo grangou a.”
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.
Anplis, te gen ki te di: “Nou te prete lajan kont chan nou avèk chan rezen nou yo pou peye taks a wa a sou chan avèk chan rezen 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].”
Alò, chè nou se menm ak chè a frè nou yo, pitit pa nou yo kon pa yo. Sepandan, nou ap fòse fè fis nou yo avèk fi nou yo vin esklav, gen nan yo ki deja mare ladann e nou san sekou, akoz chan nou avèk chan rezen nou yo vin pou yon lòt moun.”
6 I was very angry when I heard these things that they were complaining about.
Epi mwen te byen fache lè mwen te tande kriye ak pawòl sila yo.
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,
Mwen te konsilte avèk tèt mwen, e mwen te kanpe fèm ak gwo chèf yo, avèk gwo moun yo epi te di yo: “Nou ap egzije enterè, soti nan men frè nou yo!” Akoz sa, mwen te reyini yon gran asanble kont yo.
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].
Mwen te di yo: “Nou menm, selon kapasite nou, te rachte Jwif frè parèy nou yo ki te vann a lòt nasyon yo; alò koulye a, èske nou ta menm vann frè nou yo pou yo ta kab vin vann a nou menm?” Yo te rete an silans e pa t kab twouve yon pawòl pou pale.
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.
Ankò, mwen te di: “Bagay ke n ap fè a pa bon! Èske nou pa ta dwe mache nan lakrent Bondye nou an pou evite repwòch a lòt nasyon yo, lènmi nou yo?
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.
Epi anplis, mwen menm ak frè mwen yo ap prete yo lajan avèk sereyal. Souple, sispann mande enterè sa a.
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!”
Souple, remèt yo nan menm jou sa a, chan yo, chan rezen yo, chan oliv yo, avèk kay yo, avèk santyèm pati nan lajan, nan sereyal, diven nèf, avèk lwil ke nou ap egzije de yo.”
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.
Epi yo te di: “Nou va remèt li e nou p ap mande yo anyen. N ap fè ojis tout sa ke ou di yo.” Konsa, mwen te rele prèt yo e te pran yon sèman soti nan yo pou yo ta fè selon sa ke yo te pwomèt yo.
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.
Anplis, mwen te souke pati devan vètman mwen epi te di; “Se konsa ke Bondye ta souke retire sou chak moun oswa se lakay li, oswa byen pa li, sila ki pa akonpli pwomès sa a; menm konsa pou l ta souke vide.” Epi tout asanble a te di: “Amen!” Epi yo te fè lwanj a SENYÈ a. Konsa, pèp la te fè selon sa yo te pwomèt yo.
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.
Anplis, soti nan jou sa a mwen te chwazi kon gouvènè sou yo nan peyi Juda, soti nan ventyèm ane a jis rive nan trann-dezyèm ane a Wa Artexarxès la, pandan douzan, ni mwen ni moun fanmi parèy a mwen, yo pa t manje nan pati nan manje prevwa pou 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.
Men gouvènè ki te avan mwen yo te konn mete chaj sou pèp la e te pran soti nan men yo pen avèk diven plis karant sik ajan; menm sèvitè pa yo te konn vin kon chèf sou moun. Men mwen pa t fè sa akoz lakrent 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.
Anplis, mwen te aplike mwen a travay sou miray la. Nou pa t achte okenn teren e sèvitè pa m yo te toujou rasanble la pou travay la.
17 Also, every day I was responsible to feed 150 Jewish officials, and also [official] visitors who came from nearby countries.
Toujou te gen sou tab mwen san-senkant Jwif avèk chèf yo, anplis, sila ki te vin kote nou soti nan nasyon ki te antoure nou yo.
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.
Alò, sa ki te prepare chak jou yo se te yon gwo bèf avèk sis mouton nan meyè kalite, zwazo ki te prepare pou mwen; epi yon fwa chak di jou, tout kalite diven an abondans. Men pou tout sa, mwen pa t mande nan taks prevwa pou gouvènè a, akoz chaj la te lou sou pèp sa a.
19 My God, do not forget me, and reward me because of all that I have done for these people.
Sonje mwen, O Bondye mwen avèk bonte Ou, pou tout sa ke m te fè pou pèp sa a.
