Nehemiah 5:14-16

Easy-to-Read Version

¹⁴ And also, during the whole time that I was appointed to be governor in the land of Judah, neither my brothers nor I ate the food that was allowed for the governor. I never forced the people to pay taxes to buy my food. I was governor from the 20th year until the 32nd year that Artaxerxes was king.^[a] I was governor of Judah for twelve years. ¹⁵ But the governors who ruled before me made life hard for the people. The governors forced everyone to pay 1 pound^[b] of silver. They also made the people give them food and wine. The leaders under these governors also ruled over the people and made life even harder. But I respected and feared God, so I didn’t do things like that. ¹⁶ I worked hard at building the wall of Jerusalem. All my men gathered there to work on the wall. We didn’t take any land from anyone.