Nehemiah 5:3

3 Others were saying, "We are borrowing money against our fields, vineyards, and homes to get grain because there is not much food."

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 The men and their wives complained loudly against their fellow Jews.

2 Some of them were saying, "We have many sons and daughters in our families. To eat and stay alive, we need grain."

3 Others were saying, "We are borrowing money against our fields, vineyards, and homes to get grain because there is not much food."

4 And still others were saying, "We are borrowing money to pay the king's tax on our fields and vineyards.

5 We are just like our fellow Jews, and our sons are like their sons. But we have to sell our sons and daughters as slaves. Some of our daughters have already been sold. But there is nothing we can do, because our fields and vineyards already belong to other people."