NEHEMIAH

Nehemiah Chapter 5

1 ¶ Then some of the men and their wives raised an outcry against their Jewish brethren.

2 For there were some who said, With our sons, and our daughters, we are many: therefore we must have grain to eat, to keep alive.

3 There were also some who said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, so that we can buy grain, because of the scarcity.

4 There were yet others who said, We have borrowed money against our lands and vineyards, to pay the king’s tax.

5 Although our flesh is the same as the flesh of our brethren, and our children as their children: we are forced to place our sons and our daughters in bondage as slaves, and some of our daughters are already in bondage: nor is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards.

6 ¶ And I was very angry when I heard their complaint and what they said.

7 Then I thought it over, and I rebuked the nobles, and the leaders, saying to them, You all exact high interest from your own kinsmen. And I held a great assembly against them.

8 And I said to them, We according to our ability have bought back our Jewish brethren, who were sold to the heathen; will you then sell your brethren? or shall they be sold to us? Then they remained silent, and could not find anything to say.

9 I also said, What you are doing is not good: should you not walk in the fear of our God to prevent reproach by our heathen enemies?

10 I too, my brethren, and my servants, are lending them money and grain: but let us stop this forbidden interest.

11 I urge you to return to them, this very day, their lands, their vineyards, their olive-yards, and their houses, and let them keep the percentage of the money, the corn, the wine, and the oil, that you exact from them.

12 Then they said, We will do as you say; we will restore these, and will not require anything of them. Then I called the priests, and made the lenders swear, that they would keep this promise.

13 I then shook out my lap, and said, May God so shake out every man from his house, and from his labor, who does not keep this promise, may he be shaken out, and emptied. And the entire congregation said, Amen, and praised the LORD. And the people did what they had promised.

14 ¶ Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, that is, twelve years, I and my brethren have not eaten the food allowed for the governor.

15 But the former governors who had been before me lived at the expense of the people, and had taken from them food and wine, besides forty shekels of silver; yes, even their servants assumed authority over the people: but I did not do that, because of the fear of God.

16 I also held fast to the work on this wall, and we bought no land: and all my servants were gathered there for the work.

17 Moreover there were at my table one hundred and fifty of the Jews and officials, besides those who came to us from among the heathen that are around us.

18 Now what was prepared for me daily was one ox and six choice sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days a store of all sorts of wine: yet for all this I did not require the food allotted for the governor, because the bondage was heavy upon this people.

19 Remember me for good, my God, according to all that I have done for this people.