Nehemiah 5:3

3 There were also those who said, "We are having to pledge our fields, our vineyards, and our houses in order to get grain during the famine."

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 Now there was a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish kin.

2 For there were those who said, "With our sons and our daughters, we are many; we must get grain, so that we may eat and stay alive."

3 There were also those who said, "We are having to pledge our fields, our vineyards, and our houses in order to get grain during the famine."

4 And there were those who said, "We are having to borrow money on our fields and vineyards to pay the king's tax.

5 Now our flesh is the same as that of our kindred; our children are the same as their children; and yet we are forcing our sons and daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been ravished; we are powerless, and our fields and vineyards now belong to others."