Nehemiah 5:7
5:7 I considered these things carefully 1 and then registered a complaint with the wealthy 2 and the officials. I said to them, “Each one of you is seizing the collateral 3 from your own countrymen!” 4 Because of them I called for 5 a great public assembly.
Nehemiah 13:25
13:25 So I entered a complaint with them. I called down a curse on them, and I struck some of the men and pulled out their hair. I had them swear by God saying, “You will not marry off 6 your daughters to their sons, and you will not take any of their daughters as wives for your sons or for yourselves!
1 tn Heb “my heart was advised upon me.”
2 tn Heb “nobles.”
3 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 MSS; however, the result is not entirely clear: “you are bearing a burden, a man with his brothers.”
4 tn Heb “his brothers.”
5 tn Heb “I gave.”
6 tn Heb “give.”