Nehemiah 5:1

Internal unrest

1 Then there was a great protest of the people and their wives against their fellow Jews.

Nehemiah 5:1 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 5:1

And there was a great cry of the people, and of their wives,
&c.] Those of the poorer sort:

against their brethren the Jews;
the rich that oppressed them; and this cry or complaint was made to Nehemiah for redress.

Nehemiah 5:1 In-Context

1 Then there was a great protest of the people and their wives against their fellow Jews.

2 Some said, "With our sons and daughters we are many, and we all need grain to eat and stay alive."

3 Others said, "We have to mortgage our fields, our vineyards, and our houses in order to get grain during the famine."

4 Still others said, "We have had to borrow money against our fields and vineyards in order to pay the king's tax."

5 "We are of the same flesh and blood as our kin, and our children are the same as theirs. Yet we are just about to force our sons and daughters into slavery, and some of our daughters are already slaves! There is nothing we can do since our fields and vineyards now belong to others."