Nehemiah 5:11-19

11 "Please, give back to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money and of the grain, the new wine and the oil that you are exacting from them."

12 Then they said, "We ¹will give it back and ²will require nothing from them; we will do exactly as you say." So I called the priests and ³took an oath from them that they would do according to this promise.

13 I ⁴also shook out the front of my garment and said, "Thus may God shake out every man from his house and from his possessions who does not fulfill this promise; even thus may he be shaken out and emptied." And ⁵all the assembly said, "Amen!" And they praised the LORD. Then the people did according to this promise.

Nehemiah's Example

14 Moreover, from the day that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from ⁶the twentieth year to the ⁷thirty-second * year of King Artaxerxes, for twelve * years, neither I nor my kinsmen have eaten the governor's food allowance.

15 But the former governors who were before me laid burdens on the people and took from them bread and wine besides forty shekels of silver; even their servants domineered the people. But I did not do so ⁸because * of the fear of God.

16 I also applied myself to the work on this wall; we did not buy any land, and all my servants were gathered there for the work.

17 Moreover, ⁹there were at my table one hundred and fifty Jews and officials, besides those who came to us from the nations that were around us.

18 Now ¹⁰that which was prepared for each day was one ox and six choice sheep, also birds were prepared for me; and once in ten days all sorts of wine were furnished in abundance. Yet for all this ¹¹I did not demand the governor's food allowance, because the servitude was heavy on this people.

19 ¹²Remember me, O my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.

Nehemiah 5:11-19 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZRA 5

In this chapter is a complaint of the poor against the rich for oppression of them, Ne 5:1-5 for which Nehemiah being angry, reproved them, and made them promise, and swear to it, to make restitution, Ne 5:6-13 and set them an example himself, taking nothing of them during his twelve years' government, supporting himself and his at his own expenses, Ne 5:14-19.

Cross References

• 1. 2 Chronicles 28:15
• 2. Nehemiah 10:31
• 3. Ezra 10:5
• 4. Acts 18:6
• 5. Nehemiah 8:6
• 6. Nehemiah 1:1
• 7. Nehemiah 13:6
• 8. Nehemiah 5:9; Job 31:23
• 9. 1 Kings 18:19
• 10. 1 Kings 4:22, 23
• 11. 2 Thessalonians 3:8
• 12. Neh 13:14, 22, 31

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "word"
• [b] Lit "bosom"
• [c] Lit "word"
• [d] Lit "word"
• [e] Lit "brothers"
• [f] Lit "made heavy"
• [g] Or "held fast"