Nehemiah 5–6

Oppression of the Poor

5Some time later many of the people, both men and women, began to complain against their fellow-Jews. ²Some said, “We have large families, we need corn to keep us alive.”

³Others said, “We have had to mortgage our fields and vineyards and houses to get enough corn to keep us from starving.”

⁴Still others said, “We had to borrow money to pay the royal tax on our fields and vineyards. ⁵We are of the same race as our fellow-Jews. Aren’t our children just as good as theirs? But we have to make slaves of our children. Some of our daughters have already been sold as slaves. We are helpless because our fields and vineyards have been taken away from us.”

⁶When I heard their complaints, I was angry ^7*and decided to act. I denounced the leaders and officials of the people and told them, “You are oppressing your fellow-Jews!”

I called a public assembly to deal with the problem ⁸and said, “As far as we have been able, we have been buying back our Jewish relatives who had to sell themselves to foreigners. Now you are forcing your own relatives to sell themselves to you, their own people!” The leaders were silent and could find nothing to say.

⁹Then I said, “What you are doing is wrong! You ought to obey God and do what’s right. Then you would not give our enemies, the Gentiles, any reason to ridicule us. ¹⁰I have let the people borrow money and corn from me, and so have my companions and the people who work for me. Now let’s give up all our claims to repayment. ¹¹Cancel all the debtsⁱ they owe you—money or corn or wine or olive oil. And give them back their fields, vineyards, olive groves, and houses at once!”

¹²The leaders replied, “We’ll do as you say. We’ll give the property back and not try to collect the debts.”

I called in the priests and made the leaders swear in front of them to keep the promise they had just made. ¹³Then I took off the sash^j I was wearing round my waist and shook it out. “This is how God will shake any of you who don’t keep your promise,” I said. “God will take away your houses and everything you own, and will leave you with nothing.”

Everyone who was present said, “Amen!” and praised the Lord. And the leaders kept their promise.

Nehemiah’s Unselfishness

¹⁴During all the twelve years that I was governor of the land of Judah, from the twentieth year that Artaxerxes was emperor until his 32nd year, neither my relatives nor I ate the food I was entitled to have as governor. ¹⁵Every governor who had been in office before me had been a burden to the people and had demanded 40 silver coins a day^k for food and wine. Even their servants had oppressed the people. But I acted differently, because I honoured God. ¹⁶I put all my energy into rebuilding the wall and did not acquire any property. Everyone who worked for me joined in the rebuilding. ¹⁷I regularly fed at my table 150 of the Jewish people and their leaders, besides all the people who came to me from the surrounding nations. ¹⁸Every day I served one ox, six of the best sheep, and many chickens, and every ten days I provided a fresh supply of wine. But I knew what heavy burdens the people had to bear, so I did not claim the allowance that the governor is entitled to.

¹⁹I pray you, O God, remember to my credit everything that I have done for this people.

Plots against Nehemiah

6Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem, and the rest of our enemies heard that we had finished building the wall and that there were no gaps left in it, although we still had not set up the gates in the gateways. ²So Sanballat and Geshem sent me a message, suggesting that I meet with them in one of the villages in the Plain of Ono. This was a trick of theirs to try to harm me. ³I sent messengers to say to them, “I am doing important work and can’t go down there. I am not going to let the work stop just to go and see you.”

⁴They sent me the same message four times, and each time I sent them the same reply.

⁵Then Sanballat sent one of his servants to me with a fifth message, this one in the form of an unsealed letter.^{l 6}It read:

“Geshem tells me that a rumour is going round among the neighbouring peoples that you and the Jewish people intend to revolt and that this is why you are rebuilding the wall. He also says you plan to make yourself king ⁷and that you have arranged for some prophets to proclaim in Jerusalem that you are the king of Judah. His Majesty is certain to hear about this, so I suggest that you and I meet to talk the situation over.”

⁸I sent a reply to him: “Nothing of what you are saying is true. You have made it all up yourself.”

⁹They were trying to frighten us into stopping work. I prayed, “But now, God, make me strong!”

¹⁰About this time I went to visit Shemaiah, the son of Delaiah and grandson of Mehetabel, who was unable to leave his house. He said to me, “You and I must go and hide together in the Holy Place of the Temple and lock the doors, because they are coming to kill you. Any night now they will come to kill you.”

¹¹I answered, “I’m not the kind of person that runs and hides. Do you think I would try to save my life by hiding in the Temple? I won’t do it.”

¹²When I thought it over, I realized that God had not spoken to Shemaiah, but that Tobiah and Sanballat had bribed him to give me this warning. ¹³They hired him to frighten me into sinning, so that they could ruin my reputation and humiliate me.

¹⁴I prayed, “God, remember what Tobiah and Sanballat have done and punish them. Remember that woman Noadiah and all the other prophets who tried to frighten me.”

The Conclusion of the Work

¹⁵After 52 days of work the entire wall was finished on the 25th day of the month of Elul. ¹⁶When our enemies in the surrounding nations heard this, they realized that they had lost face, since everyone knew that the work had been done with God’s help.

¹⁷During all this time the Jewish leaders had been in correspondence with Tobiah. ¹⁸Many people in Judah were on his side because of his Jewish father-in-law, Shecaniah son of Arah. In addition, his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah. ¹⁹People would talk in front of me about all the good deeds Tobiah had done and would tell him everything I said. And he kept sending me letters to try to frighten me.