Discovery BoxNehemiah 5:5 
Context5:5 And now, though we share the same flesh and blood as our fellow countrymen, 1 and our children are just like their children, 2 still we have found it necessary to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. 3 Some of our daughters have been subjected to slavery, while we are powerless to help, 4 since our fields and vineyards now belong to other people.” 5
Nehemiah 8:15
Context8:15 and that they should make a proclamation and disseminate this message 6 in all their cities and in Jerusalem: 7 “Go to the hill country and bring back olive branches and branches of wild olive trees, myrtle trees, date palms, and other leafy trees to construct temporary shelters, as it is written.”
Nehemiah 11:3
Context11:3 These are the provincial leaders 8 who settled in Jerusalem. (While other Israelites, the priests, the Levites, the temple attendants, and the sons of the servants of Solomon settled in the cities of Judah, each on his own property in their cities,
1 tn Heb “according to the flesh of our brothers is our flesh.”
2 tn Heb “like their children, our children.”
3 tn Heb “to become slaves” (also later in this verse).
4 tn Heb “there is not power for our hand.” The Hebrew expression used here is rather difficult.
5 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).
6 tn Heb “a voice.”
7 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
8 tn Heb “the heads of the province.”
