Nehemiah 5:7-11

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. 5:8 I said to them, “To the extent possible we have bought back our fellow Jews ⁶  who had been sold to the Gentiles. But now you yourselves want to sell your own countrymen, ⁷  so that we can then buy them back!” They were utterly silent, and could find nothing to say.

5:9 Then I ⁸  said, “The thing that you are doing is wrong! ⁹  Should you not conduct yourselves ¹⁰  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 ¹¹  and my associates ¹²  are lending them money and grain. But let us abandon this practice of seizing collateral! ¹³  5:11 This very day return to them their fields, their vineyards, their olive trees, and their houses, along with the interest ¹⁴  that you are exacting from them on the money, the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil.”

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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 “our brothers, the Jews.”

⁷ tn Heb “your brothers.”

⁸ 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”).

⁹ 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.

¹⁰ tn Heb “[should you not] walk.”

¹¹ tn Heb “brothers.”

¹² tn Heb “lads.”

¹³ tn Heb “this debt.” This expression is a metonymy of association: “debt” refers to the seizure of the collateral of the debt.

¹⁴ 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.