Nehemiah 5:14–18

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.