Nehemiah 5:2

2 There were those who were saying, "Our sons and daughters, we are many. We must get grain so that we may 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 Now there was a great cry of distress of the people and of their wives [against] their Jewish brothers.

2 There were those who were saying, "Our sons and daughters, we are many. We must get grain so that we may eat and live."

3 There were also those saying, "We have pledged our fields and our vineyards and our houses so that we can get grain in the famine."

4 And there were those who were saying, "We have borrowed money on our fields and our vineyards for the tax of the king.

5 Now our flesh is like the flesh of our brothers, our sons are like their sons. Look, we are subduing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and there are some from our daughters being molested. {We are powerless}, and our fields and vineyards [belong] to others."