Nehemiah Helps Poor People

5 The men and their wives ·complained [cried out] loudly against their ·fellow Jews [^LJewish brothers]. ² Some of them were saying, “We have many sons and daughters in our families. To eat and stay alive, we need grain [^CThis group may have owned no land that could provide them food.].”

³ Others were saying, “We are ·borrowing money [mortgaging; ^Cfrom their fellow Jews, which increased their frustration] against our fields, vineyards, and homes to get grain ·because there is not much food [during the famine].”