| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | Berean Study Bible |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1About that time there was a great outcry from the people and their wives against their fellow Jews. |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2Some were saying, “We and our sons and daughters are numerous. We must get grain in order to eat and stay alive.” |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3Others were saying, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our homes to get grain during the famine.” |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4Still others were saying, “We have borrowed money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards. |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5We and our children are just like our countrymen and their children, yet we are subjecting our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters are already enslaved, but we are powerless to redeem them because our fields and vineyards belong to others.” |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6When I heard their outcry and these complaints, I became extremely angry, |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7and after serious thought I rebuked the nobles and officials, saying, “You are exacting usury from your own brothers!” So I called a large assembly against them |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8and said, “We have done our best to buy back our Jewish brothers who were sold to foreigners, but now you are selling your own brothers, that they may be sold back to us!” But they remained silent, for they could find nothing to say. |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9So I continued, “What you are doing is not right. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our foreign enemies? |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10I, as well as my brothers and my servants, have been lending the people money and grain. Please, let us stop this usury. |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11Please restore to them immediately their fields, vineyards, olive groves, and houses, along with the percentage of the money, grain, new wine, and oil that you have been assessing them.” |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12“We will restore it,” they replied, “and will require nothing more from them. We will do as you say.” So I summoned the priests and required of the nobles and officials an oath that they would do what they had promised. |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13I also shook out the folds of my robe and said, “May God likewise shake out of His house and possession every man who does not keep this promise. May such a man be shaken out and have nothing!” The whole assembly said, “Amen,” and they praised the LORD. And the people did as they had promised. |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14Furthermore, from the day King Artaxerxes appointed me to be their governor in the land of Judah, from his twentieth year until his thirty-second year (twelve years total), neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor. |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15The governors before me had heavily burdened the people, taking from them bread and wine plus forty shekels of silver. Their servants also oppressed the people, but I did not do this because of my fear of God. |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 16Instead, I devoted myself to the construction of the wall, and all my servants were gathered there for the work; we did not acquire any land. |
| 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17There were 150 Jews and officials at my table, besides the guests from the surrounding nations. |
| 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 18Each day one ox, six choice sheep, and some fowl were prepared for me, and once every ten days an abundance of all kinds of wine was provided. But I did not demand the food allotted to the governor, because the burden on the people was so heavy. |
| 19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19Remember me favorably, O my God, for all that I have done for this people. |
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