Nehemiah 5:16

16 I put all my energy into rebuilding the wall and did not acquire any property. Everyone who worked for me joined in the rebuilding.

Nehemiah 5:16 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 5:16

Yea, also I continued in the work of this wall
Of building the wall of Jerusalem; here he gave his constant attendance to direct and encourage the workmen, and see that they kept to their work, and did it well:

neither bought we any land;
neither he nor the principal men with him, though they could have bought it cheap, but they chose not to take the advantage of the poverty of the people:

and all my servants were gathered thither unto the work:
all were employed in it, taking no wages for their work, being maintained at his expense.

Nehemiah 5:16 In-Context

14 During all the twelve years that I was governor of the land of Judah, from the twentieth year that Artaxerxes was emperor until his thirty-second year, neither my relatives nor I ate the food I was entitled to have as governor.

15 Every governor who had been in office before me had been a burden to the people and had demanded forty silver coins a day for food and wine. Even their servants had oppressed the people. But I acted differently, because I honored God.

16 I put all my energy into rebuilding the wall and did not acquire any property. Everyone who worked for me joined in the rebuilding.

17 I regularly fed at my table a hundred and fifty of the Jewish people and their leaders, besides all the people who came to me from the surrounding nations.

18 Every day I served one beef, six of the best sheep, and many chickens, and every ten days I provided a fresh supply of wine. But I knew what heavy burdens the people had to bear, and so I did not claim the allowance that the governor is entitled to.