Nehemiah 5:2-5

5:2 There were those who said, “With our sons and daughters, we are many. We must obtain ¹  grain in order to eat and stay alive.” 5:3 There 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.” 5:4 Then there were those who said, “We have borrowed money to pay our taxes to the king ²  on our fields and our vineyards. 5:5 And now, though we share the same flesh and blood as our fellow countrymen, ³  and our children are just like their children, ⁴  still we have found it necessary to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. ⁵  Some of our daughters have been subjected to slavery, while we are powerless to help, ⁶  since our fields and vineyards now belong to other people.” ⁷ 

Nehemiah 5:7

5:7 I considered these things carefully ⁸  and then registered a complaint with the wealthy ⁹  and the officials. I said to them, “Each one of you is seizing the collateral ¹⁰  from your own countrymen!” ¹¹  Because of them I called for ¹²  a great public assembly.

Nehemiah 5:10-11

5:10 Even I and my relatives ¹³  and my associates ¹⁴  are lending them money and grain. But let us abandon this practice of seizing collateral! ¹⁵  5:11 This very day return to them their fields, their vineyards, their olive trees, and their houses, along with the interest ¹⁶  that you are exacting from them on the money, the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil.”

¹ tn Heb “take” (so also in v. 3).

² tn Heb “for the tax of the king.”

³ tn Heb “according to the flesh of our brothers is our flesh.”

⁴ tn Heb “like their children, our children.”

⁵ tn Heb “to become slaves” (also later in this verse).

⁶ tn Heb “there is not power for our hand.” The Hebrew expression used here is rather difficult.

⁷ sn 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).

⁸ tn Heb “my heart was advised upon me.”

⁹ tn Heb “nobles.”

¹⁰ tn 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.”

¹¹ tn Heb “his brothers.”

¹² tn Heb “I gave.”

¹³ tn Heb “brothers.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “lads.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “this debt.” This expression is a metonymy of association: “debt” refers to the seizure of the collateral of the debt.

¹⁶ tc The MT reads וּמְאַת (umÿ’at, “and the hundredth”) which is somewhat enigmatic. The BHS editors suggest emending to וּמַשַּׁאת (umasha’t, “and the debt”) which refers to the interest or collateral (pledge) seized by a creditor (Deut 24:10; Prov 22:26; see HALOT 641-42 s.v. מַשָּׁא). The term מַשַּׁאת (masha’t) is related to the noun מָשָּׁא (masha’, “debt”) in 5:7, 10.