^5:2There were those who said, “With our sons and daughters, we are many. We must obtain² grain in order to eat and stay alive.” ^5:3There were others who said, “We are putting up our fields, our vineyards, and our houses as collateral in order to obtain grain during the famine.” ^5:4Then there were those who said, “We have borrowed money to pay our taxes to the king³ on our fields and our vineyards. ^5:5And now, though we share the same flesh and blood as our fellow countrymen,⁴ and our children are just like their children,⁵ still we have found it necessary to subject our sons and daughters to slavery.⁶ Some of our daughters have been subjected to slavery, while we are powerless to help,⁷ since our fields and vineyards now belong to other people.”⁸

^5:6I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these complaints.⁹^5:7I considered these things carefully¹⁰ and then registered a complaint with the wealthy¹¹ and the officials. I said to them, “Each one of you is seizing the collateral¹² from your own countrymen!”¹³ Because of them I called for¹⁴ a great public assembly.

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Footnotes

2 Heb “take” (so also in v. 3).
3 Heb “for the tax of the king.”
4 Heb “according to the flesh of our brothers is our flesh.”
5 Heb “like their children, our children.”
6 Heb “to become slaves” (also later in this verse).
7 Heb “there is not power for our hand.” The Hebrew expression used here is rather difficult.
8 The poor among the returned exiles were being exploited by their rich countrymen. Moneylenders were loaning large amounts of money, and not only collecting interest on loans which was illegal (Lev 25:36–37; Deut 23:19–20), but also seizing pledges as collateral (Neh 5:3) which was allowed (Deut 24:10). When the debtors missed a payment, the moneylenders would seize their collateral: their fields, vineyards and homes. With no other means of income, the debtors were forced to sell their children into slavery, a common practice at this time (Neh 5:5). Nehemiah himself was one of the moneylenders (Neh 5:10), but he insisted that seizure of collateral from fellow Jewish countrymen was ethically wrong (Neh 5:9).
9 Heb “words.”
10 Heb “my heart was advised upon me.”
11 Heb “nobles.”
12 Heb “taking a creditor’s debt.” The Hebrew noun מַשָּׁא (masha’) means “interest; debt” and probably refers to the collateral (pledge) collected by a creditor ( ). This particular noun form appears only in Nehemiah (5:7, 10; 10:32); however, it is related to מַשָּׁאָה (masha’ah, “contractual loan; debt; collateral”) which appears elsewhere (Deut 24:10; Prov 22:26; cf. Neh 5:11). See the note on the word “people” at the end of v. . The editors suggest emending the to מָשָׂא (masa’, “burden”), following several medieval Hebrew ; however, the result is not entirely clear: “you are bearing a burden, a man with his brothers.”
13 Heb “his brothers.”
14 Heb “I gave.”