Nehemiah 5–6

¹And there is a great cry of the people and their wives, concerning their brethren the Jews, ²yea, there are who are saying, ‘Our sons, and our daughters, we—are many, and we receive corn, and eat, and live.’ ³And there are who are saying, ‘Our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses, we are pledging, and we receive corn for the famine.’ ⁴And there are who are saying, ‘We have borrowed money for the tribute of the king, on our fields, and our vineyards; ⁵and now, as the flesh of our brethren is our flesh, as their sons are our sons, and lo, we are subduing our sons and our daughters for servants, and there are of our daughters subdued, and our hand hath no might, and our fields and our vineyards are to others.’

⁶And it is very displeasing to me when I have heard their cry and these words, ⁷and my heart reigneth over me, and I strive with the freemen, and with the prefects, and say to them, ‘Usury one upon another ye are exacting;’ and I set against them a great assembly, ⁸and say to them, ‘We have acquired our brethren the Jews, those sold to the nations, according to the ability that is in us, and ye also sell your brethren, and they have been sold to us!’ and they are silent, and have not found a word. ⁹And I say, ‘Not good is the thing that ye are doing; in the fear of our God do ye not walk, because of the reproach of the nations our enemies? ¹⁰And also, I, my brethren, and my servants, are exacting of them silver and corn; let us leave off, I pray you, this usury. ¹¹Give back, I pray you, to them, as to-day, their fields, their vineyards, their olive-yards, and their houses, and the hundredth part of the money, and of the corn, of the new wine, and of the oil, that ye are exacting of them.’ ¹²And they say, ‘We give back, and of them we seek nothing; so we do as thou art saying.’ And I call the priests, and cause them to swear to do according to this thing; ¹³also, my lap I have shaken, and I say, ‘Thus doth God shake out every man, who doth not perform this thing, from his house, and from his labour; yea, thus is he shaken out and empty;’ and all the assembly say, ‘Amen,’ and praise Jehovah; and the people do according to this thing.

¹⁴Also, from the day that he appointed me to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even unto the thirty and second year of Artaxerxes the king—twelve years—I, and my brethren, the bread of the governor have not eaten: ¹⁵the former governors who are before me have made themselves heavy on the people, and take of them in bread and wine, besides in silver forty shekels; also, their servants have ruled over the people—and I have not done so, because of the fear of God. ¹⁶And also, in the work of this wall I have done mightily, even a field we have not bought, and all my servants are gathered there for the work; ¹⁷and of the Jews, and of the prefects, a hundred and fifty men, and those coming in unto us of the nations that are round about us, are at my table; ¹⁸and that which hath been prepared for one day is one ox, six fat sheep, also fowls have been prepared for me, and once in ten days of all wines abundantly, and with this, the bread of the governor I have not sought, for heavy is the service on this people. ¹⁹Remember for me, O my God, for good, all that I have done for this people.

Chapter 6

¹And it cometh to pass, when it hath been heard by Sanballat, and Tobiah, and by Geshem the Arabian, and by the rest of our enemies, that I have builded the wall, and there hath not been left in it a breach, (also, till that time the doors I had not set up in the gates,) ²that Sanballat sendeth, also Geshem, unto me, saying, ‘Come and we meet together in the villages, in the valley of Ono;’ and they are thinking to do to me evil. ³And I send unto them messengers, saying, ‘A great work I am doing, and I am not able to come down; why doth the work cease when I let it alone, and have come down unto you?’ ⁴and they send unto me, according to this word, four times, and I return them word according to this word. ⁵And Sanballat sendeth unto me, according to this word, a fifth time, his servant, and an open letter in his hand; ⁶it is written in it, ‘Among the nations it hath been heard, and Gashmu is saying: Thou and the Jews are thinking to rebel, therefore thou art building the wall, and thou hast been to them for a king—according to these words! ⁷And also, prophets thou hast appointed to call for thee in Jerusalem, saying, A king is in Judah, and now it is heard by the king according to these words; and now come, and we take counsel together.’ ⁸And I send unto him, saying, ‘It hath not been according to these words that thou art saying, for from thine own heart thou art devising them;’ ⁹for all of them are making us afraid, saying, ‘Their hands are too feeble for the work, and it is not done;’ and now, strengthen Thou my hands.

¹⁰And I have entered the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabeel—and he is restrained—and he saith, ‘Let us meet at the house of God, at the inside of the temple, and we shut the doors of the temple, for they are coming in to slay thee—yea, by night they are coming in to slay thee.’ ¹¹And I say, ‘A man such as I—doth he flee? and who as I, that doth go in unto the temple, and live?—I do not go in.’ ¹²And I discern, and lo, God hath not sent him, for in the prophecy he hath spoken unto me both Tobiah and Sanballat hired him, ¹³so that he is an hireling, that I may fear and do so, and I had sinned, and it had been to them for an evil name that they may reproach me. ¹⁴Be mindful, O my God, of Tobiah, and of Sanballat, according to these his works, and also, of Noadiah the prophetess, and of the rest of the prophets who have been making me afraid.

¹⁵And the wall is completed in the twenty and fifth of Elul, on the fifty and second day; ¹⁶and it cometh to pass, when all our enemies have heard, and all the nations who are round about us see, that they fall greatly in their own eyes, and know that by our God hath this work been done. ¹⁷Also, in those days the freemen of Judah are multiplying their letters going unto Tobiah, and those of Tobiah are coming in unto them; ¹⁸for many in Judah are sworn to him, for he is son-in-law to Shechaniah son of Arah, and Jehohanan his son hath taken the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah; ¹⁹also, his good deeds they have been saying before me, and my words they have been taking out to him; letters hath Tobiah sent to make me afraid.

Chapter 7