Nehemiah 5:7-9

Contemporary English Version

^7 (A) So I thought it over and said to the leaders and officials, “How can you charge your own people interest?”

Then I called a public meeting and accused the leaders ⁸ by saying, “We have tried to buy back all of our people who were sold into exile. But here you are, selling more of them for us to buy back!” The officials and leaders did not say a word, because they knew this was true.

⁹ I continued, “What you have done is wrong! We must honor our God by the way we live, so the Gentiles can't find fault with us.