Charging Interest Abolished

Now (A)there was a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their (B)Jewish brothers. For there were those who said, “We, our sons, and our daughters are many; therefore let’s (C)get grain so that we may eat and live.” And there were others who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses so that we might get grain because of the famine.” There also were those who said, “We have borrowed money (D)for the king’s tax on our fields and our vineyards. And now (E)our flesh is like the flesh of our brothers, our children like their children. Yet behold, (F)we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters are forced into bondage already, and [a]we are helpless because our fields and vineyards belong to others.”

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Footnotes

  1. Nehemiah 5:5 Lit there is no power in our hands

Nehemiah Helps the Poor

Now the men and their wives raised a great outcry against their fellow Jews. Some were saying, “We and our sons and daughters are numerous; in order for us to eat and stay alive, we must get grain.”

Others were saying, “We are mortgaging our fields,(A) our vineyards and our homes to get grain during the famine.”(B)

Still others were saying, “We have had to borrow money to pay the king’s tax(C) on our fields and vineyards. Although we are of the same flesh and blood(D) as our fellow Jews and though our children are as good as theirs, yet we have to subject our sons and daughters to slavery.(E) Some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but we are powerless, because our fields and our vineyards belong to others.”(F)

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