1 The common people and their wives presented very serious complaints against their Jewish brothers.
2 Some of them said, "We have big families and we need wheat to eat for strength to live."
3 Others cried out, "We have to mortgage our fields, vineyards and houses to get grain because of this famine."
4 Others said, "We have borrowed money on account of our fields and vineyards in order to pay the tax to the king.
5 Though we are of the same race as our brothers and our children are not different from their children, we have to give our sons as slaves; even many of our daughters are now regarded as concubines. And we do not have any other solution, inasmuch as our fields and vineyards have passed on to others."
6 Those complaints and accusations filled me with indignation
7 and I reproached the nobles and the counselors,
8 saying to them, "Why do you not have compassion on your brothers?" Because of this, I held a great assembly and said to them, "We have rescued, according to our resources, our Jewish brothers who were slaves. But are you now buying your own brothers?" They remained silent. They could not answer.
9 And I continued, "What you do is not good. Should you not live in obedience to our God lest we be put to shame by our pagan enemies?
10 My brothers, my relatives and I have also lent money and wheat. Now then, let us forget everything they owe us,
11 returning to them at once their fields, vineyards, and olive groves, and canceling their debts in money, wheat, wine and oil."
12 They answered me, "We will return these and demand nothing from them. We will do as you have said." So I called the priests, and before them made all of them swear an oath that they would fulfill their promise.
13 Then I shook out the folds of my mantle, saying, "So may God shake out of his house and his inheritance all who do not fulfill this word, and may he be so shaken that nothing is left of him." The whole assembly answered, "Amen" and praised Yahweh. And the people fulfilled their promise.
14 King Artaxerxes had appointed me governor of the land of Judah in the twentieth year of his reign. Until the thirty-second year, or rather, for twelve years, neither I nor my brothers ever demanded to be given the governor's bread.
15 But the former governors had collected forty pieces of silver per day from the people. This payment was a burden to the people, and so were their servants.
16 As I dedicated myself to rebuilding the wall, I did not buy fields; and all my men were there helping.
17 At my table a hundred and fifty men, leaders and counselors were seated, besides those who came to us from neighboring nations.
18 A male calf, six choice rams and fowls were slaughtered daily, and every ten days a great quantity of wine was brought. But though all these were charged to my account, I never asked for the governor's bread, because the people were already burdened enough with the task of reconstruction.
19 Remember for my good, my God, all that I have done for this people!
Versículos relacionados com Nehemiah, 5:
Nehemiah 5 deals with the rich oppression of the poor in Jerusalem, and the leadership of Nehemiah to confront this unfair situation. The following verses were chosen for addressing topics related to the chapter:
Proverbs 22:16: "He who oppresses the poor to enrich himself, or gives the rich man will surely impoverish." This verse highlights the injustice of the oppression of the poor by the rich, and how this practice can lead to an unsustainable situation.
Isaiah 58:6: "This is not the fast I chose, that it loose the ligasures of wickedness, who undoes the juggans, and that they leave the oppressed, and shatter all the yoke?" This verse emphasizes the importance of getting rid of the yokes of oppression, and how this is an essential part of true fasting.
Jeremiah 22:3: "Thus saith the Lord, Practice the right and justice, deliver the oppressed from the hands of the oppressor, and not the oppress to the foreigner, or to the orphan, or the widow; nor spill innocent blood in this place." This verse emphasizes the responsibility of leaders to practice justice and protect the oppressed rather than contribute to their oppression.
Proverbs 29:7: "The righteous knows the cause of the poor, but the wicked does not understand such knowledge." This verse shows the difference between a fair leader, such as Nehemiah, who comprises the struggles of the poor, and an unfair leader, who is not concerned with the suffering of the underprivileged.
Isaiah 1:17: "Learn to do well; seek what is just; help the oppressed; do justice to the orphan; deal with the cause of the widows." This verse highlights the importance of doing good, seeking justice and helping the oppressed, what Nehemiah sought to do in leading the people in the reconstruction of Jerusalem.
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