Nehemiah 5:2

2 Some were saying, "We, our sons, and our daughters are numerous. Let us get grain so that we can eat and live."

Nehemiah 5:2 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 5:2

For there were that said, we, our sons, and our daughters, are
many
Not that they complained of the number of their children, for a numerous offspring was always reckoned a blessing with the Jews; but this they observed to show that their families, being large, required a considerable quantity of food to support them:

therefore we take up corn for them, that we may eat and live;
that is, they were obliged to take it at an exorbitant price, which is the thing complained of; or otherwise they must starve, the rich taking the advantage of their poverty and present dearth.

Nehemiah 5:2 In-Context

1 There was a widespread outcry from the people and their wives against their Jewish countrymen.

2 Some were saying, "We, our sons, and our daughters are numerous. Let us get grain so that we can eat and live."

3 Others were saying, "We are mortgaging our fields, vineyards, and homes to get grain during the famine."

4 Still others were saying, "We have borrowed money to pay the king's tax on our fields and vineyards.

5 We and our children are [just] like our countrymen and their children, yet we are subjecting our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters are already enslaved, but we are powerless because our fields and vineyards belong to others."