Neemias 5

1 Foi porém grande o clamor do povo e de suas mulheres, contra os judeos, seus irmãos.

[Later, ] many of the men and their wives protested loudly about what [some of] the [other] Jews were doing.

2 Porque havia quem dizia: Com nossos filhos, e nossas filhas, nós somos muitos; pelo que tomámos trigo, para que comamos e vivamos.

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.”

3 Tambem havia quem dizia: As nossas terras, as nossas vinhas, e as nossas casas empenhámos, para tomarmos trigo n'esta fome.

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).”

4 Tambem havia quem dizia: Tomámos emprestado dinheiro até para o tributo do rei, sobre as nossas terras e as nossas vinhas.

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.

5 Agora pois a nossa carne é como a carne de nossos irmãos, e nossos filhos como seus filhos; e eis que sujeitámos nossos filhos e nossas filhas para serem servos: e até algumas de nossas filhas são tão sujeitas, que já não estão no poder de nossas mãos; e outros teem as nossas terras e as nossas vinhas.

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].”

6 Ouvindo eu pois o seu clamor, e estas palavras, muito me enfadei.

I was very angry when I heard these things that they were complaining about.

7 E considerei comigo mesmo no meu coração; depois pelejei com os nobres e com os magistrados, e disse-lhes: Usura tomaes cada um de seu irmão. E ajuntei contra elles um grande ajuntamento.

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,

8 E disse-lhes: Nós resgatámos os judeos, nossos irmãos, que foram vendidos ás gentes segundo nossas posses; e vós outra vez venderieis a vossos irmãos, ou vender-se-hão a nós? Então se callaram, e não acharam que responder

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].

9 Disse mais: Não é bom o que fazeis: Porventura não andarieis no temor do nosso Deus, por causa do opprobrio dos gentios, os nossos inimigos?

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.

10 Tambem eu, meus irmãos e meus moços, ao ganho lhes temos dado dinheiro e trigo. Deixemos este ganho.

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.

11 Restitui-lhes hoje, vos peço, as suas terras, as suas vinhas, os seus olivaes, e as suas casas; como tambem a centena do dinheiro, do trigo, do mosto, e do azeite, que vós exigis d'elles.

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!”

12 Então disseram: Restituir-lh'o-hemos, e nada procuraremos d'elles; faremos assim como dizes. Então chamei os sacerdotes, e os fiz jurar que fariam conforme a esta palavra.

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.

13 Tambem o meu regaço sacudi, e disse: Assim sacuda Deus todo o homem da sua casa e do seu trabalho que não confirmar esta palavra, e assim seja sacudido e vazio. E toda a congregação disse: Amen! E louvaram ao Senhor; e o povo fez conforme a esta palavra.

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.

14 Tambem desde o dia em que me mandou que eu fosse seu governador na terra de Judah, desde o anno vinte, até ao anno trinta e dois do rei Artaxerxes, doze annos, nem eu nem meus irmãos comemos o pão do governador.

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.

15 Mas os primeiros governadores, que foram antes de mim, opprimiram o povo, e tomaram-lhe pão e vinho, e além d'isso, quarenta siclos de prata, como tambem os seus moços dominavam sobre o povo: porém eu assim não fiz, por causa do temor de Deus

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.

16 Como tambem na obra d'este muro fiz reparação, e terra nenhuma comprámos: e todos os meus moços se ajuntaram ali á obra

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.

17 Tambem dos judeos e dos magistrados, cento e cincoenta homens, e os que vinham a nós, d'entre as gentes, que estão á roda de nós, se punham á minha mesa

Also, every day I was responsible to feed 150 Jewish officials, and also [official] visitors who came from nearby countries.

18 E o que se preparava para cada dia era um boi e seis ovelhas escolhidas; tambem aves se me preparavam, e de dez em dez dias de todo o vinho muitissimo: e nem por isso exigi o pão do governador, porquanto a servidão d'este povo era grande.

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.

19 Lembra-te de mim para bem, ó meu Deus, e de tudo quanto fiz a este povo.

My God, do not forget me, and reward me because of all that I have done for these people.