Nehemia 5:1--6:14
Konteks5:1 Then there was a great outcry from the people and their wives against their fellow Jews. 1 5:2 There were those who said, “With our sons and daughters, we are many. We must obtain 2 grain in order to eat and stay alive.” 5:3 There were others who said, “We are putting up our fields, our vineyards, and our houses as collateral in order to obtain grain during the famine.” 5:4 Then there were those who said, “We have borrowed money to pay our taxes to the king 3 on our fields and our vineyards. 5:5 And now, though we share the same flesh and blood as our fellow countrymen, 4 and our children are just like their children, 5 still we have found it necessary to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. 6 Some of our daughters have been subjected to slavery, while we are powerless to help, 7 since our fields and vineyards now belong to other people.” 8
5:6 I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these complaints. 9 5:7 I considered these things carefully 10 and then registered a complaint with the wealthy 11 and the officials. I said to them, “Each one of you is seizing the collateral 12 from your own countrymen!” 13 Because of them I called for 14 a great public assembly. 5:8 I said to them, “To the extent possible we have bought back our fellow Jews 15 who had been sold to the Gentiles. But now you yourselves want to sell your own countrymen, 16 so that we can then buy them back!” They were utterly silent, and could find nothing to say.
5:9 Then I 17 said, “The thing that you are doing is wrong! 18 Should you not conduct yourselves 19 in the fear of our God in order to avoid the reproach of the Gentiles who are our enemies? 5:10 Even I and my relatives 20 and my associates 21 are lending them money and grain. But let us abandon this practice of seizing collateral! 22 5:11 This very day return to them their fields, their vineyards, their olive trees, and their houses, along with the interest 23 that you are exacting from them on the money, the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil.”
5:12 They replied, “We will return these things, 24 and we will no longer demand anything from them. We will do just as you say.” Then I called the priests and made the wealthy and the officials 25 swear to do what had been promised. 26 5:13 I also shook out my garment, 27 and I said, “In this way may God shake out from his house and his property every person who does not carry out 28 this matter. In this way may he be shaken out and emptied!” All the assembly replied, “So be it!” and they praised the LORD. Then the people did as they had promised. 29
5:14 From the day that I was appointed 30 governor 31 in the land of Judah, that is, from the twentieth year until the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes – twelve years in all – neither I nor my relatives 32 ate the food allotted to the governor. 33 5:15 But the former governors who preceded me had burdened the people and had taken food and wine from them, in addition to 34 forty shekels of silver. Their associates were also domineering over the people. But I did not behave in this way, due to my fear of God. 5:16 I gave myself to the work on this wall, without even purchasing 35 a field. All my associates were gathered there for the work.
5:17 There were 150 Jews and officials who dined with me routinely, 36 in addition to those who came to us from the nations 37 all around us. 5:18 Every day one ox, six select sheep, and some birds were prepared for me, and every ten days all kinds of wine in abundance. Despite all this I did not require the food allotted to the governor, for the work was demanding on this people.
5:19 Please remember me for good, O my God, for all that I have done for this people.
6:1 When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and no breach remained in it (even though up to that time I had not positioned doors in the gates), 6:2 Sanballat and Geshem sent word to me saying, “Come on! Let’s set up a time to meet together at Kephirim 38 in the plain of Ono.” Now they intended to do me harm.
6:3 So I sent messengers to them saying, “I am engaged in 39 an important work, and I am unable to come down. Why should the work come to a halt when I leave it to come down to you?” 6:4 They contacted 40 me four times in this way, and I responded the same way each time. 41
6:5 The fifth time that Sanballat sent his assistant to me in this way, he had an open letter in his hand. 6:6 Written in it were the following words:
“Among the nations it is rumored 42 (and Geshem 43 has substantiated 44 this) that you and the Jews have intentions of revolting, and for this reason you are building the wall. Furthermore, according to these rumors 45 you are going to become their king. 6:7 You have also established prophets to announce 46 in Jerusalem 47 on your behalf, ‘We have a king in Judah!’ Now the king is going to hear about these rumors. So come on! Let’s talk about this.” 48
6:8 I sent word back to him, “We are not engaged in these activities you are describing. 49 All of this is a figment of your imagination.” 50
6:9 All of them were wanting 51 to scare us, supposing, “Their hands will grow slack from the work, and it won’t get done.”
So now, strengthen my hands! 52
6:10 Then I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel. He was confined to his home. 53 He said, “Let’s set up a time to meet in the house of God, within the temple. Let’s close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. It will surely be at night that they will come to kill you.”
6:11 But I replied, “Should a man like me run away? Would someone like me flee to the temple in order to save his life? 54 I will not go!” 6:12 I recognized the fact that God had not sent him, for he had spoken the prophecy against me as a hired agent of Tobiah and Sanballat. 55 6:13 He had been hired to scare me so that I would do this and thereby sin. They would thus bring reproach on me and I 56 would be discredited. 57
6:14 Remember, O my God, Tobiah and Sanballat in light of these actions of theirs – also Noadiah the prophetess and the other prophets who were trying to scare me!
[5:1] 1 tn Heb “their brothers the Jews.”
[5:2] 2 tn Heb “take” (so also in v. 3).
[5:4] 3 tn Heb “for the tax of the king.”
[5:5] 4 tn Heb “according to the flesh of our brothers is our flesh.”
[5:5] 5 tn Heb “like their children, our children.”
[5:5] 6 tn Heb “to become slaves” (also later in this verse).
[5:5] 7 tn Heb “there is not power for our hand.” The Hebrew expression used here is rather difficult.
[5:5] 8 sn The poor among the returned exiles were being exploited by their rich countrymen. Moneylenders were loaning large amounts of money, and not only collecting interest on loans which was illegal (Lev 25:36-37; Deut 23:19-20), but also seizing pledges as collateral (Neh 5:3) which was allowed (Deut 24:10). When the debtors missed a payment, the moneylenders would seize their collateral: their fields, vineyards and homes. With no other means of income, the debtors were forced to sell their children into slavery, a common practice at this time (Neh 5:5). Nehemiah himself was one of the moneylenders (Neh 5:10), but he insisted that seizure of collateral from fellow Jewish countrymen was ethically wrong (Neh 5:9).
[5:7] 10 tn Heb “my heart was advised upon me.”
[5:7] 12 tn Heb “taking a creditor’s debt.” The Hebrew noun מַשָּׁא (masha’) means “interest; debt” and probably refers to the collateral (pledge) collected by a creditor (HALOT 641-42 s.v.). This particular noun form appears only in Nehemiah (5:7, 10; 10:32); however, it is related to מַשָּׁאָה (masha’ah, “contractual loan; debt; collateral”) which appears elsewhere (Deut 24:10; Prov 22:26; cf. Neh 5:11). See the note on the word “people” at the end of v. 5. The BHS editors suggest emending the MT to מָשָׂא (masa’, “burden”), following several medieval Hebrew
[5:7] 13 tn Heb “his brothers.”
[5:8] 15 tn Heb “our brothers, the Jews.”
[5:8] 16 tn Heb “your brothers.”
[5:9] 17 tc The translation reads with the Qere and the ancient versions וָאוֹמַר (va’omar, “and I said”) rather than the MT Kethib, וַיֹּאמֶר (vayyo’mer, “and he said”).
[5:9] 18 tn Heb “not good.” The statement “The thing…is not good” is an example of tapeinosis, a figurative expression which emphasizes the intended point (“The thing…is wrong!”) by negating its opposite.
[5:9] 19 tn Heb “[should you not] walk.”
[5:10] 22 tn Heb “this debt.” This expression is a metonymy of association: “debt” refers to the seizure of the collateral of the debt.
[5:11] 23 tc The MT reads וּמְאַת (umÿ’at, “and the hundredth”) which is somewhat enigmatic. The BHS editors suggest emending to וּמַשַּׁאת (umasha’t, “and the debt”) which refers to the interest or collateral (pledge) seized by a creditor (Deut 24:10; Prov 22:26; see HALOT 641-42 s.v. מַשָּׁא). The term מַשַּׁאת (masha’t) is related to the noun מָשָּׁא (masha’, “debt”) in 5:7, 10.
[5:12] 24 tn The words “these things” are not included in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
[5:12] 25 tn Heb “took an oath from them”; the referents (the wealthy and the officials, cf. v. 7) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
[5:12] 26 tn Heb “according to this word.”
[5:13] 28 tn Heb “cause to stand.”
[5:13] 29 tn Heb “according to this word.”
[5:14] 30 tc The BHS editors suggest reading צֻוֵּאתִי (tsuvve’ti, “and I was appointed”) rather than the reading of the MT, אֹתִי צִוָּה (tsivvah ’oti, “he appointed me”).
[5:14] 31 tc The translation reads with one medieval Hebrew
[5:14] 33 tn Heb “the food of the governor.” Cf. v. 18.
[5:15] 34 tc The Hebrew term אַחַר (’akhar) is difficult here. It normally means “after,” but that makes no sense here. Some scholars emend it to אַחַד (’akhad) and supply the word “day,” which yields the sense “daily.” Cf. TEV “40 silver coins a day for food and wine.”
[5:16] 35 tn Heb “we did not purchase.”
[5:17] 36 tn Heb “who were gathered around us at my table.”
[5:17] 37 tn Or “from the Gentiles.” The same Hebrew word can refer to “the Gentiles” or “the nations.” Cf. the phrase in 6:16.
[6:2] 38 tn It is not entirely clear whether the Hebrew word כְּפִירִים (kÿfirim) is a place-name not mentioned elsewhere in the OT (as indicated in the present translation; so also NAB, NASB) or whether it means “in [one of] the villages” (so, e.g., NIV, NRSV, NLT; see BDB 499 s.v.; HALOT 493 s.v.). The LXX and Vulgate understand it in the latter sense. Some scholars connect this term with the identically spelled word כּפירים (“lions”) as a figurative description of princes or warriors (e.g., Pss 34:11; 35:17; 58:7; Jer 2:15; Ezek 32:2, 13; Nah 2:14; see HALOT 493 s.v.): “let us meet together with the leaders in the plain of Ono.”
[6:4] 41 tn Heb “and I answered them according to this word.”
[6:6] 43 tn Heb “Gashmu”; in Neh 2:19 this name appears as Geshem. Since it is important for the modern reader to recognize that this is the same individual, the form of the name used here in the translation is the same as that in v. 19.
[6:6] 45 tn Heb “words.” So also in v. 7.
[6:7] 47 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[6:7] 48 tn Heb “Let us consult together.”
[6:8] 49 tn Heb “We are not according to these matters that you are saying.”
[6:8] 50 tn Heb “For from your heart you are inventing them.”
[6:9] 51 tn The participle has a desiderative nuance here, describing the desire of the subject and not necessarily the actual outcome. See also v. 14.
[6:9] 52 tn The statement “So now, strengthen my hands” is frequently understood as an implied prayer, but is taken differently by NAB (“But instead, I now redoubled my efforts”).
[6:10] 53 tn Heb “shut in.” The reason for his confinement is not stated. BDB 783 s.v. עָצַר suggests that it had to do with the fulfillment of a vow or was related to an issue of ceremonial uncleanness.
[6:11] 54 tn Heb “go into the temple and live.”
[6:12] 55 tn Heb “and Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.”
[6:13] 56 tc The translation reads לִי (li, “to me”) rather than the MT reading לָהֶם (lahem, “to them”).
