Nehemiah 5:2

2 For there were those who said, "With our sons and our daughters, we are many; we must get grain, so that we may 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 Now there was a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish kin.

2 For there were those who said, "With our sons and our daughters, we are many; we must get grain, so that we may eat and stay alive."

3 There were also those who said, "We are having to pledge our fields, our vineyards, and our houses in order to get grain during the famine."

4 And there were those who said, "We are having to borrow money on our fields and vineyards to pay the king's tax.

5 Now our flesh is the same as that of our kindred; our children are the same as their children; and yet we are forcing our sons and daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been ravished; we are powerless, and our fields and vineyards now belong to others."