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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Nehemiah 5 NLT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/nehemiah/5.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/nehemiah/5-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NLT</a> > Nehemiah 5</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../nehemiah/4.htm" title="Nehemiah 4">◄</a> Nehemiah 5 <a href="../nehemiah/6.htm" title="Nehemiah 6">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New Living Translation</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/nlt/esv/nehemiah/5.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="hdg">Nehemiah Defends the Oppressed</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/5-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>About this time some of the men and their wives raised a cry of protest against their fellow Jews. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/5-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>They were saying, “We have such large families. We need more food to survive.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/5-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>Others said, “We have mortgaged our fields, vineyards, and homes to get food during the famine.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/5-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>And others said, “We have had to borrow money on our fields and vineyards to pay our taxes. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/5-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>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.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/5-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>When I heard their complaints, I was very angry. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/5-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>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.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/5-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>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.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/5-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>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? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/5-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>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. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/5-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>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.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/5-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>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.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/5-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>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!”</p><p class="reg">The whole assembly responded, “Amen,” and they praised the LORD. And the people did as they had promised.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/5-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>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<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">a</span></a>—neither I nor my officials drew on our official food allowance. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/5-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>The former governors, in contrast, had laid heavy burdens on the people, demanding a daily ration of food and wine, besides forty pieces<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">b</span></a> of silver. Even their assistants took advantage of the people. But because I feared God, I did not act that way.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/5-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>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. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/5-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>I asked for nothing, even though I regularly fed 150 Jewish officials at my table, besides all the visitors from other lands! <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/5-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>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.</p><p class="b"/><p class="pmo"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/5-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>Remember, O my God, all that I have done for these people, and bless me for it.</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="fn">a</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">5:14 </span><span class="ft">That is, 445–433 </span><span class="sc">b.c.</span><br><span class="fn">b</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">5:15 </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">40 shekels</span><span class="ft"> [1 pound or 456 grams].</span><br></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><em>Holy Bible</em>, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. 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