Nehemiah 5:1-9 ▼

1 THEN there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews.

2 For there were those who said, Our sons and our daughters and our brothers are many; therefore let us purchase grain that we may eat and live.

3 There were also those who said, We are going to sell our fields, our houses, and our vineyards that we may purchase grain during the famine, that we may live.

4 There were those who said, Let us borrow money from the king's tribute, and work our fields and our vineyards, that we may live.

5 And there were also those who said, Now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children are as their children; and, lo, we are compelling our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are already compelled to become maidservants; and yet they do not raise their hands in protest before God; and our fields, our vineyards, and our goods are given for other men.

6 And I was exceedingly sorrowful when I heard their cry and these words, and my heart was broken within me,

7 But I was patient, and I consulted with the elders and with the rulers, and said to them,

8 We are redeeming our brethren the Jews, who were sold to the nations, both they and their children, and will you even take a man in pledge for his brother? Therefore I shouted at them, and said to them, Will you also sell your brethren? Then they were silent, and did not answer me.

9 Also I said to them, The thing that you are doing is not good; for now you are not walking in the reverence of our God, because you are behaving like the nations which are round about us.