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Nehemiah 5 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

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Nehemiah Defends the Oppressed

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Unchecked Copy Box Neh 5:1

Unchecked Copy BoxNeh 5:1 - About this time some of the men and their wives raised a cry of protest against their fellow Jews.

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Unchecked Copy Box Neh 5:2

Unchecked Copy BoxNeh 5:2 - They were saying, “We have such large families. We need more food to survive.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Neh 5:3

Unchecked Copy BoxNeh 5:3 - Others said, “We have mortgaged our fields, vineyards, and homes to get food during the famine.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Neh 5:4

Unchecked Copy BoxNeh 5:4 - And others said, “We have had to borrow money on our fields and vineyards to pay our taxes.

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Unchecked Copy Box Neh 5:5

Unchecked Copy BoxNeh 5:5 - We belong to the same family as those who are wealthy, and our children are just like theirs. Yet we must sell our children into slavery just to get enough money to live. We have already sold some of our daughters, and we are helpless to do anything about it, for our fields and vineyards are already mortgaged to others.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Neh 5:6

Unchecked Copy BoxNeh 5:6 - When I heard their complaints, I was very angry.

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Unchecked Copy Box Neh 5:7

Unchecked Copy BoxNeh 5:7 - After thinking it over, I spoke out against these nobles and officials. I told them, “You are hurting your own relatives by charging interest when they borrow money!” Then I called a public meeting to deal with the problem.

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Unchecked Copy Box Neh 5:8

Unchecked Copy BoxNeh 5:8 - At the meeting I said to them, “We are doing all we can to redeem our Jewish relatives who have had to sell themselves to pagan foreigners, but you are selling them back into slavery again. How often must we redeem them?” And they had nothing to say in their defense.

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Unchecked Copy Box Neh 5:9

Unchecked Copy BoxNeh 5:9 - Then I pressed further, “What you are doing is not right! Should you not walk in the fear of our God in order to avoid being mocked by enemy nations?

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Unchecked Copy Box Neh 5:10

Unchecked Copy BoxNeh 5:10 - I myself, as well as my brothers and my workers, have been lending the people money and grain, but now let us stop this business of charging interest.

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Unchecked Copy Box Neh 5:11

Unchecked Copy BoxNeh 5:11 - You must restore their fields, vineyards, olive groves, and homes to them this very day. And repay the interest you charged when you lent them money, grain, new wine, and olive oil.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Neh 5:12

Unchecked Copy BoxNeh 5:12 - They replied, “We will give back everything and demand nothing more from the people. We will do as you say.” Then I called the priests and made the nobles and officials swear to do what they had promised.

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Unchecked Copy Box Neh 5:13

Unchecked Copy BoxNeh 5:13 - I shook out the folds of my robe and said, “If you fail to keep your promise, may God shake you like this from your homes and from your property!”
The whole assembly responded, “Amen,” and they praised the LORD. And the people did as they had promised.

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Unchecked Copy Box Neh 5:14

Unchecked Copy BoxNeh 5:14 - For the entire twelve years that I was governor of Judah—from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of the reign of King Artaxerxes[fn]—neither I nor my officials drew on our official food allowance.

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Unchecked Copy Box Neh 5:15

Unchecked Copy BoxNeh 5:15 - The former governors, in contrast, had laid heavy burdens on the people, demanding a daily ration of food and wine, besides forty pieces[fn] of silver. Even their assistants took advantage of the people. But because I feared God, I did not act that way.

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Unchecked Copy Box Neh 5:16

Unchecked Copy BoxNeh 5:16 - I also devoted myself to working on the wall and refused to acquire any land. And I required all my servants to spend time working on the wall.

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Unchecked Copy Box Neh 5:17

Unchecked Copy BoxNeh 5:17 - I asked for nothing, even though I regularly fed 150 Jewish officials at my table, besides all the visitors from other lands!

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Unchecked Copy Box Neh 5:18

Unchecked Copy BoxNeh 5:18 - The provisions I paid for each day included one ox, six choice sheep or goats, and a large number of poultry. And every ten days we needed a large supply of all kinds of wine. Yet I refused to claim the governor’s food allowance because the people already carried a heavy burden.

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Unchecked Copy Box Neh 5:19

Unchecked Copy BoxNeh 5:19 - Remember, O my God, all that I have done for these people, and bless me for it.
See the NLT Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NLT Footnotes
That is, 445–433 B.C.
Hebrew 40 shekels [1 pound, or 456 grams].
NLT

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Full copyright information is provided here. Visit the New Living Translation website.

For more information on this translation, see the NLT Preface.

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