Nehemiah 5:2

2 Some of them said, "We have large families! We need some grain [if we are going] to eat and stay alive."

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 Then some of the people, the men and their wives, complained publicly about their Jewish relatives.

2 Some of them said, "We have large families! We need some grain [if we are going] to eat and stay alive."

3 Others said, "We've had to mortgage our fields, our vineyards, and our homes in order to get some grain because of this famine."

4 Others said, "We've had to borrow money to pay the king's taxes on our fields and vineyards.

5 We have the same flesh and blood as our relatives. Our children are just like theirs. Yet, we have to force our sons and daughters to become slaves. Some of our daughters have already become slaves. But we can't do anything else when our fields and vineyards belong to others."