Nehemiah 5:14

14 From the day that he charged me to be their ruler in the land of Juda, from the twentieth year even to the thirty-second year of Arthasastha, twelve years, I and my brethren ate not extorted from them.

Nehemiah 5:14 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 5:14

Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their
governor in the land of Judah
That is, by the king of Persia, which was not done when he was first sent into Judea; but very probably when he had finished the wall in fifty two days, he returned to Persia, and gave the king an account of his success, and how things stood in those parts, when he judged it necessary to send him again in the character of a governor, and which was still within the same year, as follows: from the twentieth year, even unto the thirty second year of Artaxerxes, that is, twelve years; see ( Nehemiah 13:6 ) .

I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the governor;
which was fit and proper for him, and used to be given him; neither he, nor those that assisted him in the government, the principal men he brought along with him, and put into posts and places under him.

Nehemiah 5:14 In-Context

12 And they said, We will restore, and we will not exact of them; we will do thus as thou sayest. Then I called the priests, and bound them by oath to do according to this word.

13 And I shook out my garment, and said, So may God shake out every man who shall not keep to this word, from his house, and from his labours, he shall be even thus shaken out, as an outcast and empty. And all the congregation said, Amen, and they praised the Lord: and the people did this thing.

14 From the day that he charged me to be their ruler in the land of Juda, from the twentieth year even to the thirty-second year of Arthasastha, twelve years, I and my brethren ate not extorted from them.

15 But as for the former acts of extortion wherein before me oppressed them, they even took of them their last money, forty didrachms for bread and wine; and the outcasts of them exercised authority over the people: but I did not so, because of the fear of God.

16 Also in the work of the wall I treated them not with rigor, I bought not land: and all that were gathered together thither to the work.