Nehemiah 5

¹Now there arose a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers .

²For there were those who said , With our sons and our daughters , we are many . So let us get grain , that we may eat and keep alive .

³There were also those who said , We are mortgaging our fields , our vineyards , and our houses to get grain because of the famine .

⁴And there were those who said , We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our fields and our vineyards .

⁵Now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers , our children are as their children . Yet we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves , and some of our daughters have already been enslaved , but it is not in our power to help it, for other men have our fields and our vineyards .

⁶I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these words .

⁷I took counsel with myself , and I brought charges against the nobles and the officials . I said to them, You are exacting interest , each from his brother . And I held a great assembly against them

⁸and said to them, We, as far as we are able , have bought back our Jewish brothers who have been sold to the nations , but you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us! They were silent and could not find a word to say.

⁹So I said , The thing that you are doing is not good . Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations our enemies ?

¹⁰Moreover , I and my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain . Let us abandon this exacting of interest .

¹¹Return to them this very day their fields , their vineyards , their olive orchards , and their houses , and the percentage of money , grain , wine , and oil that you have been exacting from them.

¹²Then they said , We will restore these and require nothing from them. We will do as you say . And I called the priests and made them swear to do as they had promised .

¹³I also shook out the fold of my garment and said , So may God shake out every man from his house and from his labor who does not keep this promise . So may he be shaken out and emptied . And all the assembly said Amen and praised the Lord. And the people did as they had promised .

¹⁴Moreover , from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah , from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king , twelve years , neither I nor my brothers ate the food allowance of the governor .

¹⁵The former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens on the people and took from them for their daily ration forty shekels of silver . Even their servants lorded it over the people . But I did not do so , because of the fear of God .

¹⁶I also persevered in the work on this wall , and we acquired no land , and all my servants were gathered there for the work .

¹⁷Moreover, at my table 150 men, Jews and officials , besides those who came to us from the nations that were around us.

¹⁸Now what was prepared at my expense for each day was one ox and six choice sheep and birds , and every ten days all kinds of wine in abundance . Yet for all this I did not demand the food allowance of the governor , because the service was too heavy on this people .

¹⁹Remember for my good , O my God , all that I have done for this people .