Nehemiah 5:7

5:7 I considered these things carefully¹ and then registered a complaint with the wealthy² and the officials. I said to them, “Each one of you is seizing the collateral³ from your own countrymen!”⁴ Because of them I called for⁵ a great public assembly.

Jeremiah 26:16-19

26:16 Then the officials and all the people rendered their verdict to the priests and the prophets. They said,⁶ “This man should not be condemned to die.⁷ For he has spoken to us under the authority of the Lord our God.”⁸ 26:17 Then some of the elders of Judah⁹ stepped forward and spoke to all the people gathered there. They said, 26:18 “Micah from Moresheth¹⁰ prophesied during the time Hezekiah was king of Judah.¹¹ He told all the people of Judah,

‘The Lord who rules over all¹² says,

“Zion¹³ will become a plowed field.

Jerusalem¹⁴ will become a pile of rubble.

The temple mount will become a mere wooded ridge.”’¹⁵

26:19 King Hezekiah and all the people of Judah did not put him to death, did they? Did not Hezekiah show reverence for the Lord and seek the Lord’s favor?¹⁶ Did not¹⁷ the Lord forgo destroying them¹⁸ as he threatened he would? But we are on the verge of bringing great disaster on ourselves.”¹⁹

John 7:50-51

7:50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus²⁰ before and who was one of the rulers,²¹ said,²² 7:51 “Our law doesn’t condemn²³ a man unless it first hears from him and learns²⁴ what he is doing, does it?”²⁵

¹tn Heb “my heart was advised upon me.”

²tn Heb “nobles.”

³tn 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 (HALOT 641-42 s.v.). 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. 5. The BHS editors suggest emending the MT to מָשָׂא (masa’, “burden”), following several medieval Hebrew MSS; however, the result is not entirely clear: “you are bearing a burden, a man with his brothers.”

⁴tn Heb “his brothers.”

⁵tn Heb “I gave.”

⁶tn Heb “Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets…”

⁷sn Contrast v. 11.

⁸tn Heb “For in the name of the Lord our God he has spoken to us.” The emphasis is on “in the name of…”

⁹tn Heb “elders of the land.”

¹⁰sn Micah from Moresheth was a contemporary of Isaiah (compare Mic 1:1 with Isa 1:1) from the country town of Moresheth in the hill country southwest of Jerusalem. The prophecy referred to is found in Mic 3:12. This is the only time in the OT where an OT prophet is quoted verbatim and identified.

¹¹sn Hezekiah was co-regent with his father Ahaz from 729-715 b.c. and sole ruler from 715-686 b.c. His father was a wicked king who was responsible for the incursions of the Assyrians (2 Kgs 16; 2 Chr 28). Hezekiah was a godly king, noted for his religious reforms and for his faith in the Lord in the face of the Assyrian threat (2 Kgs 18–19; 2 Chr 32:1-23). The deliverance of Jerusalem in response to his prayers of faith (2 Kgs 19:14-19, 29-36) was undoubtedly well-known to the people of Jerusalem and Judah and may have been one of the prime reasons for their misplaced trust in the inviolability of Zion/Jerusalem (see Ps 46, 76) though the people of Micah’s day already believed it too (Mic 3:11).

¹²tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

¹³sn Zion was first of all the citadel that David captured (2 Sam 5:6-10), then the city of David and the enclosed temple area, then the whole city of Jerusalem. It is often in poetic parallelism with Jerusalem as it is here (see, e.g., Ps 76:2; Amos 1:2).

¹⁴map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹⁵sn There is irony involved in this statement. The text reads literally “high places of a forest/thicket.” The “high places” were the illicit places of worship that Jerusalem was supposed to replace. Because of their sin, Jerusalem would be like one of the pagan places of worship with no place left sacrosanct. It would even be overgrown with trees and bushes. So much for its inviolability!

¹⁶tn This Hebrew idiom (חָלָה פָּנִים, khalah panim) is often explained in terms of “stroking” or “patting the face” of someone, seeking to gain his favor. It is never used in a literal sense and is found in contexts of prayer (Exod 32:11; Ps 119:158), worship (Zech 8:21-22), humble submission (2 Chr 3:12), or amendment of behavior (Dan 9:13). All were true to one extent or another of Hezekiah.

¹⁷tn The he interrogative (הַ)with the negative governs all three of the verbs, the perfect and the two vav (ו) consecutive imperfects that follow it. The next clause has disjunctive word order and introduces a contrast. The question expects a positive answer.

¹⁸tn For the translation of the terms involved here see the translator’s note on 18:8.

¹⁹tn Or “great harm to ourselves.” The word “disaster” (or “harm”) is the same one that has been translated “destroying” in the preceding line and in vv. 3 and 13.

²⁰tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²¹tn Grk “who was one of them”; the referent (the rulers) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²²tn Grk “said to them.”

²³tn Grk “judge.”

²⁴tn Grk “knows.”

²⁵tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “does it?”).