Nehemiah 5–6

Chapter 5

Usury Abolished

¹Now ^athere was a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their ^bJewish brothers.

²For there were those who said, “We, our sons and our daughters are many; therefore let us ^aget grain that we may eat and live.”

³There were others who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our houses that we might get grain because of the famine.”

⁴Also there were those who said, “We have borrowed money ^afor the king’s tax on our fields and our vineyards.

⁵“Now ^aour flesh is like the flesh of our brothers, our children like their children. Yet behold, ^bwe are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters are forced into bondage already, and ¹we are helpless because our fields and vineyards belong to others.”

⁶Then I was very ^aangry when I had heard their outcry and these words.

⁷I consulted with myself and contended with the nobles and the rulers and said to them, “^aYou are exacting usury, each from his brother!” Therefore, I held a great assembly against them.

⁸I said to them, “We according to our ability ^ahave ¹redeemed our Jewish brothers who were sold to the nations; now would you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us?” Then they were silent and could not find a word to say.

⁹Again I said, “The thing which you are doing is not good; should you not walk in the fear of our God because of ^athe reproach of the nations, our enemies?

¹⁰“And likewise I, my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Please, let us leave off this usury.

¹¹“Please, give back to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money and of the grain, the new wine and the oil that you are exacting from them.”

¹²Then they said, “We ^awill give it back and ^bwill require nothing from them; we will do exactly as you say.” So I called the priests and ^ctook an oath from them that they would do according to this ¹promise.

¹³I ^aalso shook out the ¹front of my garment and said, “Thus may God shake out every man from his house and from his possessions who does not fulfill this ²promise; even thus may he be shaken out and emptied.” And ^ball the assembly said, “Amen!” And they praised the Lord. Then the people did according to this promise.

Nehemiah’s Example

¹⁴Moreover, from the day that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from ^athe twentieth year to the ^bthirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, for twelve years, neither I nor my ¹kinsmen have eaten the governor’s food allowance.

¹⁵But the former governors who were before me ¹laid burdens on the people and took from them bread and wine besides forty shekels of silver; even their servants domineered the people. But I did not do so ^abecause of the fear of God.

¹⁶I also ¹applied myself to the work on this wall; we did not buy any land, and all my servants were gathered there for the work.

¹⁷Moreover, ^athere were at my table one hundred and fifty Jews and officials, besides those who came to us from the nations that were around us.

¹⁸Now ^athat which was prepared for each day was one ox and six choice sheep, also birds were prepared for me; and once in ten days all sorts of wine were furnished in abundance. Yet for all this ^bI did not demand the governor’s food allowance, because the servitude was heavy on this people.

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

Chapter 6

The Enemy’s Plot

¹Now when it was reported to Sanballat, Tobiah, to Geshem the Arab and to the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall, and that no breach remained in it, ^aalthough at that time I had not set up the doors in the gates,

²then Sanballat and Geshem sent a message to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together at ¹Chephirim in the plain of ^aOno.” But they were planning to ²harm me.

³So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?”

⁴They sent messages to me four times in this manner, and I answered them in the same way.

⁵Then Sanballat sent his servant to me in the same manner a fifth time with an open letter in his hand.

⁶In it was written, “It is reported among the nations, and ¹Gashmu says, that ^ayou and the Jews are planning to rebel; therefore you are rebuilding the wall. And you are to be their king, according to these reports.

⁷“You have also appointed prophets to proclaim in Jerusalem concerning ¹you, ‘A king is in Judah!’ And now it will be reported to the king according to these reports. So come now, let us take counsel together.”

⁸Then I sent a message to him saying, “Such things as you are saying have not been done, but you are ^ainventing them ¹in your own mind.”

⁹For all of them were trying to frighten us, ¹thinking, “²They will become discouraged with the work and it will not be done.” But now, ^aO God, strengthen my hands.

¹⁰When I entered the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, ^awho was ¹confined at home, he said, “Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you, and they are coming to kill you at night.”

¹¹But I said, “^aShould a man like me flee? And could one such as I go into the temple ¹to save his life? I will not go in.”

¹²Then I perceived ¹that surely God had not sent him, but he uttered his prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

¹³He was hired for this reason, ^athat I might become frightened and act accordingly and sin, so that they might have an evil report in order that they could reproach me.

^14aRemember, O my God, Tobiah and Sanballat according to these works of theirs, and also Noadiah ^bthe prophetess and the rest of the prophets who were trying to frighten me.

The Wall Is Finished

¹⁵So ^athe wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of the month Elul, in fifty-two days.

^16aWhen all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations surrounding us saw it, they ¹lost their confidence; for ^bthey recognized that this work had been accomplished ²with the help of our God.

¹⁷Also in those days many letters went from the nobles of Judah to Tobiah, and Tobiah’s letters came to them.

¹⁸For many in Judah were bound by oath to him because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah.

¹⁹Moreover, they were speaking about his good deeds in my presence and reported my words to him. Then Tobiah sent letters to frighten me.