Nehemias 5

1 Pagkatapos, ang mga lalaki at ang kanilang mga asawa ay dumaing nang napakalakas laban sa kanilang mga kapwa Judio.

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

2 Dahil may mga iba na nagsabi “Kasama ng aming mga anak na lalaki at babae, kami ay marami. Kaya hayaan ninyong makakuha kami ng butil para makakain kami at patuloy na mabuhay.”

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 May mga iba rin na nagsabing, “Sinasanla namin ang aming mga bukirin, ang aming ubasan, at ang aming mga bahay para makakuha ng butil sa panahon ng taggutom.”

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 May mga iba rin na nagsabing, “Humiram kami ng pera para bayaran ang buwis ng hari sa aming mga bukirin at sa aming mga ubasan.

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 Pero ngayon ang aming laman at dugo ay pareho na ng sa mga kapatid namin, at ang aming mga anak ay pareho na ng kanilang mga anak. Napilitan kaming ipagbili ang aming mga anak na lalaki at babae para maging mga alipin. Ang iba naming mga anak na babae ay inalipin na. Pero wala sa aming kapangyarihan na baguhin ito dahil ibang mga tao na ngayon ang nagmamay-ari ng aming mga bukirin at aming mga ubasan.”

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 Galit na galit ako nang narinig ko ang kanilang daing at ang mga salitang ito.

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

7 Pagkatapos ay pinag-isipan ko ito, at nagharap ng sakdal laban sa mga maharlika at opisyales. Sinabi ko sa kanila, “Naniningil kayo ng tubo, bawat isa sa kanyang sariling kapatid.” Nagdaos ako ng isang malaking pagpupulong laban sa kanila

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 at sinabi sa kanila, “Tayo, hangga't makakaya natin, ay muling binili mula sa pagkaalipin ang ating mga kapatid na Judio na naipagbili sa mga bansa, pero kayo ipinagbibili pa ninyo ang inyong mga kapatid na lalaki at babae para muling maipagbili sa amin!” Tahimik sila at ni minsan ay walang masabi ni isang salita.

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 Sinabi ko rin, “Hindi mabuti ang ginagawa ninyo. Hindi ba dapat kayong lumakad na may takot sa ating Diyos para maiwasan ang paghamak ng mga bansa na mga kaaway natin?

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 Ako at ang aking mga kapatid at ang mga lingkod ko ay nagpapautang sa kanila ng pera at butil. Pero dapat nating itigil ang paniningil ng tubo sa mga pautang na ito.

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 Ibalik sa kanila ngayon mismong araw na ito ang kanilang mga bukirin, ang kanilang ubasan, at kanilang taniman ng olibo at ang kanilang mga bahay at ang porsiyento ng pera, ng butil, ng bagong alak, at ng langis na siningil ninyo mula sa kanila.”

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 Pagkatapos sinabi nila, “Ibabalik namin kung ano ang kinuha namin sa kanila, at wala kaming hihingin mula sa kanila. Gagawin namin ang sinabi mo.” Pagkatapos tinawag ko ang mga pari, at pinanumpa sila na gagawin ang kanilang ipinangako.

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 Ipinagpag ko ang tiklop ng aking kasuotan at sinabi, “Ganito nawa ipagpag ng Diyos mula sa kanyang bahay at mga ari-arian ang bawat taong hindi tutupad ng kanyang pangako. Ganito nawa siya maipagpag at mawalan.” Lahat ng kapulungan ay nagsabing, “Amen,” at pinuri nila si Yahweh. At ginawa ng mga tao ang ipinangako nila.

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 Kaya mula ng pahanon na itinalaga ako bilang gobernador nila sa lupain ng Juda, mula sa ika-dalawampung taon hanggang sa ika-tatlumpu't dalawang taon ni Artaxerxes ang hari, labindalawang taon, hindi ako kumain, maging ang aking mga kapatid na lalaki, ng pagkain na inilaan para sa gobernador.

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 Pero ang mga dating gobernador na nauna sa akin ay nagpatong ng mabibigat na mga pasanin sa mga tao, at kinuha mula sa kanila ang apatnapung sekel ng pilak para sa kanilang pang-araw-araw na pagkain at alak. Kahit ang kanilang mga lingkod ay pinahirapan ang mga tao. Pero hindi ko ito ginawa dahil sa takot sa Diyos.

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 Patuloy rin akong gumawa sa pader, at wala kaming biniling lupa. At lahat ng mga lingkod ko ay nagtipon doon para sa gawain.

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 Sa mesa ko ay mga Judio at opisyales, 150 lalaki, maliban pa sa mga dumating sa amin mula sa mga kasamang bansa na nakapaligid sa amin.

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

18 Ngayon ang hinanda bawat araw ay isang baka, anim na piling tupa, at mga ibon din, at sa bawat sampung araw sagana sa lahat ng uri ng alak. Gayumpaman para sa lahat ng ito hindi ko hiningi ang nakalaang halaga para sa pagkain ng gobernador, dahil ang mga hinihingi ay masyadong mabigat sa mga tao.

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 Alalahanin mo ako, aking Diyos, sa kabutihan, dahil sa lahat ng aking ginawa para sa mga taong ito.

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