Neemias 5

1 Então houve um grande clamor do povo e de suas mulheres contra seus irmãos, os judeus.

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

2 Pois havia quem dizia: Nós, nossos filhos e nossas filhas, somos muitos; por isso tomamos 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 Também havia quem dizia: Colocamos em penhor nossas terras, nossas vinhas, e nossas casas, para comprarmos trigo durante a 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 E havia quem dizia: Pedimos emprestado até para o tributo do rei [sobre] nossas terras e 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, nossa carne é como a carne de nossos irmãos, [e] nossos filhos como seus filhos; porém eis que nós sujeitamos nossos filhos e nossas filhas por servos, e até [algumas] de nossas filhas estão subjugadas, que não estão em poder de nossas mãos, e outros têm para si nossas terras e 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 Quando eu ouvi seu clamor, fiquei muito irado.

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

7 Então eu meditei em meu coração, e depois briguei com os nobres e com os oficiais, dizendo-lhes: Emprestais com juros cada um a seu irmão? E convoquei contra eles uma grande reunião.

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 resgatamos nossos irmãos judeus que haviam sido vendidos às nações, conforme o que nos era possível, e vós novamente venderíeis a vossos irmãos, ou seriam eles vendidos a nós? E ficaram calados, e não acharam o 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 E eu disse mais: Não é bom o que fazeis. Por acaso não andareis no temor a nosso Deus, para que não haja humilhação da parte das nações [que são] nossas inimigas?

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 Também eu, meus irmãos, e meus servos, temos lhes emprestado a juros dinheiro e grão. Abandonemos esta cobrança de juros.

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 Devolvei a eles hoje mesmo suas terras, suas vinhas, seus olivais, e suas casas; e a centésima parte do dinheiro e do trigo, do vinho e do azeite que exigis deles.

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: Devolveremos, e nada lhes exigiremos; faremos assim como tu dizes. Então chamei aos sacerdotes, e lhes fiz jurar que fariam conforme esta promessa.

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 Também sacudi minha roupa, e disse: Assim sacuda Deus de sua casa e de seu trabalho a todo homem que não cumprir esta promessa; e assim seja sacudido e esvaziado. E toda a congregação: Amém! E louvaram ao SENHOR. E o povo fez conforme esta promessa.

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 Também desde o dia que fui nomeado governador deles na terra de Judá, desde o ano vinte até o ano trinta e dois do rei Artaxerxes, doze anos, 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, oprimiram ao povo, e tomaram deles pão e pelo vinho, além de quarenta siclos de prata; ainda mais, seus servos dominavam opressivamente sobre o povo; porém eu não fiz assim, por causa do temor a 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 Além disso, concentrei meus esforços na obra deste muro, e não compramos terra alguma; e todos meus servos se ajuntaram ali para a 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 Também cento e cinquenta homens dos judeus, dos oficiais, e dos que vinha até nós dentre as ns nações que estão ao nosso redor, se punham à 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; também preparavam aves para mim, e cada dez dias todas as variedades de muito vinho; e nem por isso exigi o pão do governador, porque a servidão deste povo era grave.

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 o bem, ó meu Deus; [e de] tudo o que fiz a este povo.

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