Nehemiah Deals with Oppression

5 And there was a great ^(A)outcry of the people and their wives against their ^(B)Jewish brethren. ² For there were those who said, “We, our sons, and our daughters are many; therefore let us get grain, that we may eat and live.”

³ There were also some who said, “We have mortgaged our lands and vineyards and houses, that we might buy grain because of the famine.”

⁴ There were also those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our lands and vineyards. ⁵ Yet now ^(C)our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children; and indeed we ^(D)are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been brought into slavery. It is not in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and vineyards.”

⁶ And I became very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. ⁷ After serious thought, I rebuked the nobles and rulers, and said to them, ^(E)“Each of you is ^[a]exacting usury from his brother.” So I ^[b]called a great assembly against them. ⁸ And I said to them, “According to our ability we have ^(F)redeemed our Jewish brethren who were sold to the nations. Now indeed, will you even sell your brethren? Or should they be sold to us?”

Then they were silenced and found nothing to say. ⁹ Then I said, “What you are doing is not good. Should you not walk ^(G)in the fear of our God ^(H)because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies? ¹⁰ I also, with my brethren and my servants, am lending them money and grain. Please, let us stop this ^[c]usury! ¹¹ Restore now to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, also a hundredth of the money and the grain, the new wine and the oil, that you have charged them.”

¹² So they said, “We will restore it, and will require nothing from them; we will do as you say.”

Then I called the priests, ^(I)and required an oath from them that they would do according to this promise. ¹³ Then ^(J)I shook out ^[d]the fold of my garment and said, “So may God shake out each man from his house, and from his property, who does not perform this promise. Even thus may he be shaken out and emptied.”

And all the assembly said, “Amen!” and praised the Lord. ^(K)Then the people did according to this promise.

The Generosity of Nehemiah

¹⁴ Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year ^(L)until the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, twelve years, neither I nor my brothers ^(M)ate the governor’s provisions. ¹⁵ But the former governors who were before me laid burdens on the people, and took from them bread and wine, besides forty shekels of silver. Yes, even their servants bore rule over the people, but ^(N)I did not do so, because of the ^(O)fear of God. ¹⁶ Indeed, I also continued the ^(P)work on this wall, and ^[e]we did not buy any land. All my servants were gathered there for the work.

¹⁷ And ^(Q)at my table were one hundred and fifty Jews and rulers, besides those who came to us from the nations around us. ¹⁸ Now that ^(R)which was prepared daily was one ox and six choice sheep. Also fowl were prepared for me, and once every ten days an abundance of all kinds of wine. Yet in spite of this ^(S)I did not demand the governor’s provisions, because the bondage was heavy on this people.

^19 (T)Remember me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.

Conspiracy Against Nehemiah

6 Now it happened ^(U)when Sanballat, Tobiah, ^[f]Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall, and that there were no breaks left in it ^(V)(though at that time I had not hung the doors in the gates), ² that Sanballat and ^[g]Geshem ^(W)sent to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together ^[h]among the villages in the plain of ^(X)Ono.” But they ^(Y)thought to do me harm.

³ So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?”

⁴ But they sent me this message four times, and I answered them in the same manner.

⁵ Then Sanballat sent his servant to me as before, the fifth time, with an open letter in his hand. ⁶ In it was written:

⁸ Then I sent to him, saying, “No such things as you say are being done, but you invent them in your own heart.”

⁹ For they all were trying to make us afraid, saying, “Their hands will be weakened in the work, and it will not be done.”

Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.

¹⁰ Afterward I came to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was a secret informer; and he said, “Let us meet together in the house of God, within the ^[j]temple, and let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you; indeed, at night they will come to kill you.”

¹¹ And I said, “Should such a man as I flee? And who is there such as I who would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in!” ¹² Then I perceived that God had not sent him at all, but that ^(AA)he pronounced this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. ¹³ For this reason he was hired, that I should be afraid and act that way and sin, so that they might have cause for an evil report, that they might reproach me.

^14 (AB)My God, remember Tobiah and Sanballat, according to these their works, and the ^(AC)prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who would have made me afraid.

The Wall Completed

¹⁵ So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of Elul, in fifty-two days. ¹⁶ And it happened, ^(AD)when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things, that they were very disheartened in their own eyes; for ^(AE)they perceived that this work was done by our God.

¹⁷ Also in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came to them. ¹⁸ For many in Judah were pledged to him, because he was the ^(AF)son-in-law of Shechaniah the son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of ^(AG)Meshullam the son of Berechiah. ¹⁹ Also they reported his good deeds before me, and reported my ^[k]words to him. Tobiah sent letters to frighten me.

List of Returning Exiles

7 Then it was, when the wall was built and I had ^(AH)hung the doors, when the gatekeepers, the singers, and the Levites had been appointed, ² that I gave the charge of Jerusalem to my brother ^(AI)Hanani, and Hananiah the leader ^(AJ)of the ^[l]citadel, for he was a faithful man and ^(AK)feared God more than many.

³ And I said to them, “Do not let the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot; and while they stand guard, let them shut and bar the doors; and appoint guards from among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, one at his watch station and another in front of his own house.”

The Captives Who Returned to Jerusalem^(AL)

⁴ Now the city was large and spacious, but the people in it were ^(AM)few, and the houses were not rebuilt.