Nehemiah Defends the Oppressed
And there was a great outcry of the people and their wives against their brothers the Jews.
And there were those who were saying, “Our sons and our daughters — we are many; so let us get grain, that we may eat and live.”
And there were those who were saying, “Our fields and our vineyards and our houses we are pledging, that we may get grain in the famine.”
And there were those who were saying, “We have borrowed silver for the king’s tribute on our fields and our vineyards.
And now, our flesh is like the flesh of our brothers, our sons like their sons; and here we are, forcing our sons and our daughters into slavery — and some of our daughters are already forced — and our hand is powerless, and our fields and our vineyards belong to others.”
And I burned with great anger when I heard their outcry and these words.
And my heart took counsel within me, and I contended with the nobles and with the deputies, and said to them, “You are exacting a burden, each on his own brother!” And I set a great assembly against them,
and said to them, “We ourselves have bought back our brothers the Jews, who were sold to the nations, as far as we were able; and will you yourselves even sell your brothers, that they may be sold to us?” And they were silent, and found no word.
And I said, “The thing you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies?
And I too, my brothers and my young men, have been lending them silver and grain. Let us leave off this burden.
Give back to them, please, this very day, their fields, their vineyards, their olive trees, and their houses; and the hundredth of the silver and the grain, the new wine and the fresh oil, that you have been exacting from them.”
And they said, “We will give it back, and from them we will require nothing. So we will do, as you say.” And I called the priests, and made them swear to act according to this word.
Also I shook out my lap, and said, “So may God shake out every man who does not stand by this word, from his house and from his labor; and so let him be shaken out and emptied.” And all the assembly said, “Amen,” and they praised the LORD. And the people did according to this word.
Nehemiah’s Generosity
Also, from the day he appointed me to be their governor in the land of Judah — from the twentieth year until the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, twelve years — neither I nor my brothers ate the governor’s bread.
But the former governors who were before me laid a heavy load on the people, and took from them for bread and wine forty shekels of silver besides; even their young men lorded it over the people. But I did not do so, because of the fear of God.
And I also held to the work of this wall, and we bought no field; and all my young men were gathered there for the work.
And the Jews and the deputies, a hundred and fifty men, and those who came to us from the nations around us, were at my table.
And what was prepared for one day was one ox, six choice sheep, and birds were prepared for me; and every ten days a great store of all kinds of wine. And with all this, I did not demand the governor’s bread, because the service lay heavy on this people.
Remember for me, my God, for good, all that I have done for this people.