Nehemiah 5:13

13 Also I shook my lap, and said, "So God shake out every man from his house and from his labor who performeth not this promise; eventhus be he shaken out and emptied." And all the congregation said, "Amen," and praised the LORD. And the people did according to this promise.

Nehemiah 5:13 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 5:13

Also I shook my lap
The fore skirts of his garment, shaking the dust out of them, as a symbol of what follows; a like rite was used in the case of peace and war, the choice of either, by the Romans, as proposed by their ambassadors to the Carthaginians, as having either in their bosom to shake out ^F12:

and said, so God shake out every man from his house, and from his
labour;
what he has got by his labour:

that performeth not his promise;
confirmed by an oath:

even thus be he shaken out, and emptied;
of all that he has in the world, and out of the world too, as Jarchi adds:

and all the congregation said, Amen;
so let it be, even those that had taken pledges and usury, as well as others:

and praised the Lord;
that had given them such a governor to direct, advise, and exhort them to their duty, and had inclined their hearts to attend thereunto:

and the people did according to this promise;
they punctually kept it, and the oath they had sworn.

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 Florus, l. 2. c. 6. Liv. l. 21. c. l8.

Nehemiah 5:13 In-Context

11 Restore, I pray you, to them even this day their lands, their vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money and of the corn, the wine, and the oil that ye exact from them."

12 Then said they, "We will restore them, and will require nothing of them. So will we do as thou sayest." Then I called the priests and took an oath from them, that they should do according to this promise.

13 Also I shook my lap, and said, "So God shake out every man from his house and from his labor who performeth not this promise; eventhus be he shaken out and emptied." And all the congregation said, "Amen," and praised the LORD. And the people did according to this promise.

14 Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even unto the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes the king (that is, twelve years), I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the governor.

15 But the former governors who had been before me were chargeable unto the people, and had taken from them bread and wine, besides forty shekels of silver. Yea, even their servants ruled over the people, but so did I not, because of the fear of God.