Nehemiah 5:10-12

5:10 Even I and my relatives ¹  and my associates ²  are lending them money and grain. But let us abandon this practice of seizing collateral! ³  5:11 This very day return to them their fields, their vineyards, their olive trees, and their houses, along with the interest ⁴  that you are exacting from them on the money, the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil.”

5:12 They replied, “We will return these things, ⁵  and we will no longer demand anything from them. We will do just as you say.” Then I called the priests and made the wealthy and the officials ⁶  swear to do what had been promised. ⁷ 

Jeremiah 34:8-11

The Lord Threatens to Destroy Those Who Wronged Their Slaves

34:8 The Lord spoke to Jeremiah after King Zedekiah had made a covenant ⁸  with all the people in Jerusalem ⁹  to grant their slaves their freedom. 34:9 Everyone was supposed to free their male and female Hebrew slaves. No one was supposed to keep a fellow Judean enslaved. ¹⁰  34:10 All the people and their leaders had agreed to this. They had agreed to free their male and female slaves and not keep them enslaved any longer. They originally complied with the covenant and freed them. ¹¹  34:11 But later ¹²  they had changed their minds. They had taken back their male and female slaves that they had freed and forced them to be slaves again. ¹³ 

Micah 3:2-4

3:2 yet you ¹⁴  hate what is good, ¹⁵ 

and love what is evil. ¹⁶ 

You flay my people’s skin ¹⁷ 

and rip the flesh from their bones. ¹⁸ 

3:3 You ¹⁹  devour my people’s flesh,

strip off their skin,

and crush their bones.

You chop them up like flesh in a pot ²⁰  –

like meat in a kettle.

3:4 Someday these sinners will cry to the Lord for help, ²¹ 

but he will not answer them.

He will hide his face from them at that time,

because they have done such wicked deeds.”

[5:10]  ¹ tn Heb “brothers.”

[5:10]  ² tn Heb “lads.”

[5:10]  ³ tn Heb “this debt.” This expression is a metonymy of association: “debt” refers to the seizure of the collateral of the debt.

[5:11]  ⁴ 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.

[5:12]  ⁵ tn The words “these things” are not included in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[5:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “took an oath from them”; the referents (the wealthy and the officials, cf. v. 7) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “according to this word.”

[34:8]  ⁸ tn Usually translated “covenant.” See the study note on 11:2 for the rationale for the translation here.

[34:8]  ⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[34:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “after King Zedekiah made a covenant…to proclaim liberty to them [the slaves mentioned in the next verse] so that each would send away free his male slave and his female slave, the Hebrew man and the Hebrew woman, so that a man would not hold them in bondage, namely a Judean, his brother [this latter phrase is explicative of “them” because it repeats the preposition in front of “them”].” The complex Hebrew syntax has been broken down into shorter English sentences but an attempt has been made to retain the proper subordinations.

[34:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “And they complied, [that is] all the leaders and all the people who entered into the covenant that they would each let his male slave and his female slave go free so as not to hold them in bondage any longer; they complied and they let [them] go.” The verb “they complied” (Heb “they hearkened”) is repeated at the end after the lengthy description of the subject. This is characteristic of Hebrew style. The translation has resolved the complex sentence by making the relative clauses modifying the subject independent sentences describing the situational background before mentioning the main focus, “they had complied and let them go.”

[34:11]  ¹² sn Most commentators are agreed that the incident referred to here occurred during the period of relief from the siege provided by the Babylonians going off to fight against the Egyptians who were apparently coming to Zedekiah’s aid (compare vv. 21-22 with 37:5, 7). The freeing of the slaves had occurred earlier, under the crisis of the siege while the people were more responsive to the Lord due to the threat of destruction (cf. v. 15).

[34:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “they had brought them into subjection for male and female slaves.” However, the qualification of “male and female” is already clear from the preceding and is unnecessary to the English sentence.

[3:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the ones who.”

[3:2]  ¹⁵ tn Or “good.”

[3:2]  ¹⁶ tn Or “evil.”

[3:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “their skin from upon them.” The referent of the pronoun (“my people,” referring to Jacob and/or the house of Israel, with the Lord as the speaker) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and their flesh from their bones.”

[3:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “who.”

[3:3]  ²⁰ tc The MT reads “and they chop up as in a pot.” The translation assumes an emendation of כַּאֲשֶׁר (ka’asher, “as”) to כִּשְׁאֵר (kish’er, “like flesh”).

[3:4]  ²¹ tn Heb “then they will cry out to the Lord.” The words “Someday these sinners” have been supplied in the translation for clarification.