Nehemiah 5:3

3 Others said, "We have had to mortgage our fields and vineyards and houses to get enough grain to keep us from starving."

Nehemiah 5:3 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 5:3

Some also there were that said, we have mortgaged our lands,
vineyards, and houses
Made them over to others, put them into their hands as pledges for money received of them:

that we may buy corn;
for the support of their families:

because of the dearth;
or famine; which might be occasioned by their enemies lying in wait and intercepting all provisions that might be brought to them; for this seems not to be the famine spoken of in ( Haggai 1:10 Haggai 1:11 ) for that was some years before this, and for a reason which now was not.

Nehemiah 5:3 In-Context

1 Some time later many of the people, both men and women, began to complain against the other Jews.

2 Some said, "We have large families, we need grain to keep us alive."

3 Others said, "We have had to mortgage our fields and vineyards and houses to get enough grain to keep us from starving."

4 Still others said, "We had to borrow money to pay the royal tax on our fields and vineyards.

5 We are of the same race as the other Jews. Aren't our children just as good as theirs? But we have to make slaves of our children. Some of our daughters have already been sold as slaves. We are helpless because our fields and vineyards have been taken away from us."