Nehemiah 5
5
Nehemiah Helps the Poor
1Many of the poor people began to complain against their fellow Jews. 2Some of them were saying, “We have many children. We must get some grain if we are going to eat and stay alive.”
3Other people were saying, “This is a time of famine. We have to use our fields, vineyards, and homes to pay for grain.”
4And still other people were saying, “We have to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards. But we cannot afford to pay, so we are borrowing money to pay the tax. 5We are as good as the others. Our sons are as good as their sons. But we will have to sell our sons and daughters as slaves. Some of us have already had to sell our daughters as slaves. There is nothing we can do. We have already lost our fields and vineyards. Other people own them now.”
6When I heard their complaints, I was very angry. 7I calmed myself down, and then I went to the rich families and the officials. I told them, “You are forcing your own people to pay interest on the money you loan them. You must stop doing that!” Then I called for all the people to meet together 8and said to them, “Our fellow Jews were sold as slaves to people in other countries. We did our best to buy them back and make them free. And now, you are selling them like slaves again!”
The rich people and officials kept quiet. They could not find anything to say. 9So I continued speaking. I said, “What you people are doing is not right! You know that you should fear and respect our God. You should not do the shameful things other people do! 10My men, my brothers, and I are also lending money and grain to the people. But let’s stop forcing them to pay interest on these loans. 11You must give their fields, vineyards, olive fields, and houses back to them, right now! And you must give back the interest you charged them. You charged them one percent for the money, grain, new wine, and oil that you loaned them.”
12Then the rich people and the officials said, “We will give it back and not demand anything more from them. Nehemiah, we will do as you say.”
Then I called the priests. I made the rich people and the officials promise to God that they would do what they said. 13Then I shook out the folds of my clothes. I said, “God will do the same thing to everyone who does not keep their promise. God will shake them out of their houses and they will lose everything they worked for. They will lose everything!”
I finished saying these things and all the people agreed. They all said, “Amen” and praised the Lord. So the people did as they had promised.
14And also, during the whole time that I was appointed to be governor in the land of Judah, neither my brothers nor I ate the food that was allowed for the governor. I never forced the people to pay taxes to buy my food. I was governor from the 20th year until the 32nd year that Artaxerxes was king.#5:14 the 20th year … king This was from 444–432 B.C. I was governor of Judah for twelve years. 15But the governors who ruled before me made life hard for the people. The governors forced everyone to pay 1 pound#5:15 1 pound Literally, “40 shekels” (460 g). of silver. They also made the people give them food and wine. The leaders under these governors also ruled over the people and made life even harder. But I respected and feared God, so I didn’t do things like that. 16I worked hard at building the wall of Jerusalem. All my men gathered there to work on the wall. We didn’t take any land from anyone.
17Also, I regularly fed 150 Jews who were always welcome at my table, and I fed those who came to us from the nations around us. 18Every day I prepared this much food for the people who ate at my table: one ox, six good sheep, and different kinds of birds. Every ten days all kinds of wine were brought to my table. But I never demanded that they give me the food that was allowed for the governor. I knew that the work the people were doing was very hard. 19My God, remember all the good I have done for these people.
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Nehemiah 5
5
Nehemiah 5
1¶ Then there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren, the Jews.
2For there were some that said, We, our sons, and our daughters, are many; therefore we have bought grain that we may eat and live.
3There were also some that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy grain because of the famine.
4And there were some that said, We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards.
5Yet now, given that the flesh of our brethren is as our flesh and their sons as our sons, behold, we subject our sons and our daughters to slavery, and there are some of our daughters in bondage already; neither 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 cry and these words.
7Then I meditated unto myself, and I rebuked the principals and the rulers and said unto them, Does each one of you exact usury of his brother? And I set a great assembly against them.
8And I said unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren, the Jews who had been sold unto the Gentiles; and will ye even sell your brethren? And shall they be sold unto us? Then they remained silent, for they had nothing to answer.
9Also I said, What you do is not good, do you not walk in the fear of our God, that ye not be the reproach of our enemies the Gentiles?
10I, likewise, and my brethren and my servants, have lent them money and grain; let us now release them from this burden.
11Restore, I pray you, to them, today, their lands, their vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses, and even the hundredth part of the money, and of the grain, the wine, and the oil, that ye exact of them.
12Then they said, We will return it and will require nothing of them; so we will do as thou sayest. Then I called the priests and caused them to sware that they should do according to this promise.
13Also I shook my lap and said, Thus will God shake out each man from his house and from his labour, that does not perform this promise, even thus shall he be shaken out and emptied. And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised the Lord. And the people did according to this promise.
14¶ Moreover, from the day that I was appointed by the king to be their captain in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even unto the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes, the king, that is, twelve years, I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the captain.
15But the former captains that had been before me had charged the people and had taken of them for bread and wine, upon forty shekels of silver; and in addition to this their servants bore rule over the people; but I did not do so because of the fear of God.
16In addition to this, I restored my part in the work of this wall, neither did we buy any inheritance; and all my servants were gathered together unto the work.
17I also had at my table one hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers, besides those that came unto us from among the Gentiles that are around us.
18Now that which was prepared for each day was one ox and six choice sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and every ten days wine in all abundance; yet with all this I did not require the bread of the captain because the bondage was heavy upon this people.
19Remember me, my God, for good and all that I have done for this people.
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The Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB) by Ransom Press International