The Book of Nehemiah
Nehemiah 5
Chapter V · Vol. II, pp. 911–912
1 The Jews complain of their debt, mortgage, and bondage. 6 Nehemiah rebuketh the usurers, and causeth them to swear to make a full and free restitution. 14 He forbeareth his own allowance, and keepeth hospitality at his own expense.
1 And there was a agreat cry of the people and of their wives1 against their bbrethren the Jews:
1 'The cry of the wives' is exceedingly striking. While their husbands worked or watched on the walls, they had to provide at home, and therefore first and most deeply felt that domestic calamity for the redress of which both parties now joined.—C.
b Rich ones, Le.25.35. De.15.7. Ja.2.6,15,16. 1 Jn.3.17.
2 For there were that said, We, our sons, and our daughters, are many; therefore we takec up corn for them, that we may eat, and live.
3 Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn, dbecause of the dearth.
d Hag.1.9,10, with Mal.3.8-11. Je.14.1-6. Job 2.4.
4 There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards:
5 Yet now our eflesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, fwe bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already: neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards.2
e We are Jews as well as they, Is.58.7. 1 Co.6.8.
f 2 Ki.4.1. Mat.18.25, with Le.25.39.
2 Personal experience of oppression, so far from softening the heart of an unconverted man, only prepares him to oppress with less feeling should the power be committed to his hand. Grace, and grace alone, can tenderly compel us to 'be kind one to another,' Ep.4.32.—C.
7 Then I consulted3 with myself,4 and I rebukedh the nobles and the rulers, and said unto them, iYe exact usury every one of his brother. And kI set a great assembly against them.
3 Heb. my heart consulted in me.
4 Self-decision, when founded upon the promise of divine direction, is one of the most valuable qualities both in religion and worldly concerns. It does not proudly undervalue the counsel of a judicious friend, but where, as in the case of Nehemiah, that is scarcely to be had, it is thrown into no confusion, but retreats upon its own resources, stands self-collected when others are in confusion, and nobly independent of all but the grace of God.—C.
h Le.19.17. Ga.2.14. 1 Ti.5.20.
i Ex.22.25. Le.25.35-37. De.23.19,20. Ps.15.5. Pr.28.8. Je.15.10. Eze.18.8,13,17; 22.12.
8 And I said unto them, We, after our ability, have lredeemed our brethren the Jews which were sold unto the heathen; and will ye even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold unto us? Then mheld they their peace, and found nothing to answer.
l Le.25.47-49.
9 Also I said, nIt is not good that ye do: ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies?
10 Io likewise, and my brethren, and my servants, might exact of them money and corn: I pray you, let us leave off this usury.
o Ro.13.7.
11 Restore, I pray you, to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money,5 and of the corn, the wine, and the oil, that ye exact of them.
5 The general opinion of expositors is that this interest was paid monthly, and so amounted to 12 per cent. But if it was not 100th of all, but of each, viz. money, wine, oil, and corn, then would it amount to 48 per cent., and in Syria and the adjoining countries money is still frequently lent at an interest of 30 per cent. The idea of a monthly payment is, however, totally unsupported by authority. Is it not therefore much more likely that the word hundredth was equivalent to the phrase per centage, because 100 is the arithmetical basis upon which interest is calculated, and consequently that Nehemiah gives no intimation of the rate of interest, but according to the divine law (Ex. 22. 25) requires the remission of the whole? See ver. 12.—C.
12 Then said they, We will restore them, and pwill require nothing of them; so will we do as thou sayest. Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them,6 that they should do according to this promise.
A.M. 3559. B.C. 445.
p Lu.6.35.
6 Of whom was the oath taken? of the nobles or of the priests? Of the priests, that they, as expositors and administrators of the law of God, would see justice done upon the principles now admitted. See De. 17.8-11.—C.
13 Also I shook7 my lap, and said, So God qshake out every man from his house, and from his labour, that performeth not this promise, even thus be he shaken out, and 8emptied. And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised the LORD. And the people did according to this promise.
14 Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even unto the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that is, twelve years,9 I and my brethren have not eaten the rbread of the governor.
9 From 445 to 433.
r 1 Co.9.4,15. Ro.13.6,7.
15 But the former governors that had been before me were chargeable unto the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, besides forty shekels of silver[≈ 460 g · 1 lb · silver worth ≈ US$790];1 yea, even their servants bare rule over the people: but so did not I, sbecause of the fear of God.
1 This must have been the daily salary of the governor, and would amount to about £1800 per annum, which the generous, because pious, Nehemiah declined to accept. God had given him riches, and as God required them not again for himself, Nehemiah dealt them out for relief of his children—the poor and the afflicted of his people. See Pr.19.17.—C.
s Pr.16.6; 23.17. Ge.42.18. Job 31.23. He.12.28. De.6.13; 10.12.
16 Yea, also I tcontinued in the work of this wall, neither ubought we any land: and all my servants were gathered thither unto the work.
t 2 Ch.29.28. Ga.6.9.
u Ac.20.33. 1 Co.9.4,15.
17 Moreover, there were xat my table an hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers, besides those that came unto us from among the heathen that are about us.
18 Now that ywhich was prepared for me daily was one ox, and six choice sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days store of all sorts of wine: yet for all this required not I the bread2 of the governor, because the bondage was heavy upon this people.3
y 1 Ki.4.22,23.
2 Nehemiah, considering the depressed state of the people, refused to take from them the usual allowance of money and provisions, which as governor he had a right to claim. Throughout the Persian empire the dues of the government were paid partly in money and partly in provisions. Nehemiah refused the salary of the governor, and at his own expense maintained the dignity of the office.—I.
3 The Persian tribute, the military duty, and the labour on the walls.—C.
19 Thinkz upon me, my God, for good, according to all4 that I have done for this people.
z ch.13.14,22,30. Ps.18.20,24; 19.11. 1 Co.15.58. Ga.6.9.
4 Rather, to bless all that I have done.—C.
Notes
[Ver. 2. The ground of complaint was this: The able-bodied men were kept at work on the walls. They received no pay, yet they had to provide food for themselves and families. They were obliged to buy, and to borrow the necessary money. Unscrupulous merchants and usurers took advantage of this, charged extravagant prices and exorbitant interest, so that many were obliged to mortgage their lands, and even give their children up to servitude. P.]
Reflections.—Hard times and hard hearts when met together render the poor miserable indeed. And it is cruel to take advantage of our brethren's distress, and to make their yoke heavier by usurious exactions. Alas! how we bring hardship and famine on ourselves by our sins, and then complain of it. Those who have great families and little substance must learn to live by faith on God's promise and providence. And those who have small families and much substance should make their abundance a supply for their neighbours' wants; for often poor housekeepers are in much greater straits than the most wretched vagrants. But what a scandal to our holy religion is a worldly-minded and niggardly professor! And deliberate and aggravated is that theft which lies in retaining that which we have unjustly gotten. There can be no uprightness towards God without restitution to the oppressed. It is proper that rulers show themselves angry at what is sinful, that their subjects may be deterred from it and excited to duty. But reproofs ought to be given with great consideration and temper, lest otherwise they fail of their end. And warm and rough, though not furious, measures are to be taken with hardened and presumptuous transgressors. It is highly criminal to expose the people of God, and interests of religion, to the reproach of their enemies. And the strongest bonds are necessary to restrain worldlings from their covetous courses. But how scandalous is it for magistrates to enrich themselves, or indulge their servants, to the public hurt! Those, whether magistrates or others, in whose hearts the fear and love of God remarkably reign, will discover it by the exemplariness of their lives. In times of public distress they will even remit what was their unquestionable due. But infallible are the gracious rewards of sincere piety and disinterested benevolence from God, even when men overlook it. And it is pleasant to have them as a mark of our sacrificial relation to God.
Measures in square brackets are modern equivalents added for this edition. They are not in the King James text or in Brown’s notes. They use common scholarly estimates: a cubit is about 45.7 cm (18 in), a shekel about 11.4 g (0.4 oz), an ephah about 22 litres. Money values give the worth of the silver or gold at spot prices on 28 October 2026, not what the sum would buy in the ancient world.