Nechemyah 5:2

2 For there were that said, We, our banim, and our banot, are rabbim (many); therefore we must get dagan (grain) for them, that we may eat, and live.

Nechemyah 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.

Nechemyah 5:2 In-Context

1 And there was a great outcry of HaAm and of their nashim against their achim the Yehudim.

2 For there were that said, We, our banim, and our banot, are rabbim (many); therefore we must get dagan (grain) for them, that we may eat, and live.

3 Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our sadot (fields), kramim (vineyards), and batim (houses), that we might buy dagan, because of the ra’av (famine).

4 There were also that said, We have borrowed kesef for the tax of HaMelech, and that upon our sadot and kramim.

5 Yet now our basar is the same as the basar of acheinu (our brethren, countrymen), our banot as their banot; and, hinei, we bring into the bondage of slavery our banim and our banot, and some of our banot are brought unto bondage already, neither is it in our power to redeem them, for other men have our sadot and kramim.