Nehemiah 5:3

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."

Nehemiah 5:3 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 5:3

Some also there were that said, we have mortgaged our lands,
vineyards, and houses
Made them over to others, put them into their hands as pledges for money received of them:

that we may buy corn;
for the support of their families:

because of the dearth;
or famine; which might be occasioned by their enemies lying in wait and intercepting all provisions that might be brought to them; for this seems not to be the famine spoken of in ( Haggai 1:10 Haggai 1:11 ) for that was some years before this, and for a reason which now was not.

Nehemiah 5:3 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."