Apr 22 - Nehemiah 5-6
Nehemiah
1And there occurred a great outcry of the people and their wives against their brothers, the Jews2And there were those who were saying: "Our sons and our daughters are very many. Let us receive grain as a price for them, and then we may eat and live.3And there were those who were saying: "Let us offer up our fields and vineyards, and our houses, and then we may receive grain during the famine.4And others were saying: "Let us borrow money for the tribute of the king, and let us surrender our fields and vineyards.5"And now, as is the flesh of our brothers, so is our flesh; and as are their sons, so also are our sons. Behold, we have subjugated our sons and our daughters into servitude, and some of our daughters are slaves, nor do we have the ability to redeem them, for others possess our fields and our vineyards.6And when I had heard their outcry in these words, I was exceedingly angry7And my heart considered within me. And I rebuked the nobles and the magistrates, and I said to them, "Have you each been exacting usury from your brothers?" And I gathered together a great assembly against them8And I said to them: "As you know, in accord with what was possible for us, we have redeemed our brothers, the Jews, who had been sold to the Gentiles. And yet you now sell your brothers, and we must redeem them?" And they were silent, nor did they find anything to answer9And I said to them: "The thing that you are doing is not good. Why are you not walking in the fear of our God, so that there may be no reproach against us from our enemies, the Gentiles10Both I and my brothers, with my servants, have lent money and grain to many. Let us agree not to ask for its return. Let us forgive the other money that is owed to us11On this day, restore their fields, and their vineyards, and their olive groves, and their houses to them. Then, too, the hundredth part of the money, and of the grain, wine, and oil, which you usually exact from them, give it to them.12And they said: "We will restore it, and we will require nothing from them. And we will do just as you say." And I called the priests, and I had them swear an oath, so that they would act in accord with what I had said13Moreover, I shook out my lap, and I said: "So may God shake out every man, who does not fulfill this word. From his house and from his labors, so may he be shaken out and become empty." And the entire multitude said, "Amen." And they praised God. Therefore, the people acted in accord with what was said14Now from that day, on which the king had ordered me to be governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even to the thirty-second year of king Artaxerxes, for twelve years, I and my brothers did not eat the yearly allowance that was owed to the governors15But the former governors, the ones who had been before me, were a burden to the people, and they took from them bread and wine, and forty shekels of money each day. And their officials also oppressed the people. But I did not do so, out of fear of God16In fact, I preferred to build in the work of the wall, and I bought no land, and all my servants were gathered to do the work17Likewise, the Jews and the magistrates, one hundred and fifty men, were at my table, with those who came to us from among the Gentiles that are around us18Now there was prepared for me, on each day, one ox and six choice rams, along with poultry. And once every ten days, I distributed diverse wines and many other things. Yet I did not require my yearly allowance as governor. For the people were greatly impoverished19Remember me, O my God, for good, in accord with all that I have done for this people
1Now it happened that, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem, an Arab, and our other enemies, had heard that I had built the wall, and that there was no interruption remaining in it, (even though, at that time, I had not set up the double doors at the gates,2Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying: "Come, and let us strike a pact together in the villages, on the plain of Ono." But they were thinking that they would do me harm3Therefore, I sent messengers to them, saying: "I am doing a great work, and I cannot descend, lest perhaps it may be neglected when I go out and descend to you.4Then they sent to me, with this same word, four times. And I responded to them with the same word as before5And Sanballat sent his servant to me a fifth time, with the former word, and he had a letter in his hand written in this manner6"It has been heard among the Gentiles, and Geshem has said it, that you and the Jews are planning to rebel, and because of this, you are building the wall and thinking to raise yourself as a king over them. For this reason7you also have stationed prophets, who preach about you in Jerusalem, saying: ‘There is a king in Judea!’ But the king will hear about these words. Therefore, come now, so that we may go to counsel together.8And I sent to them, saying: "There has been nothing done according to these words, which you have spoken. For you are inventing these things from your own heart.9For all these men wished to frighten us, thinking that our hands would cease from the work, and that we would cease. For this reason, I strengthened my hands all the more10And I entered into the house of Shemaiah, the son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, in secret. And he said: "Let us consult together in the house of God, in the midst of the temple. And let us close the doors of the temple. For they will come to kill you, and they will arrive in the night to put you to death.11And I said: "How could anyone like me flee? And who like me should enter the temple, so that he may live? I will not enter.12And I understood that God had not sent him, but he had spoken to me as if he were prophesying, and that Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him13For he had accepted money, so that I would be afraid, and would sin, and so that they would have some evil with which to rebuke me14Remember me, O Lord, because of Tobiah and Sanballat, because of their works of this kind. Then, too, Noadiah, a prophetess, and the rest of the prophets, would have made me afraid15Now the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Elul, in fifty-two days16Then it happened that, when all our enemies had heard of it, all the nations that were around us were afraid, and they were downcast within themselves. For they knew that this work had been accomplished by God17But also, in those days, many letters were being sent by the nobles of the Jews to Tobiah, and were arriving from Tobiah to them18For there were many in Judea who had sworn an oath to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah, the son of Arah, and because Jehohanan, his son, had married the daughter of Meshullam, the son of Berechiah19Moreover, they praised him before me, and they reported my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters, so that he might make me afraid