Nehemiah 5:4

4 And others said: Let us borrow money for the king’s tribute, and let us give up our fields and vineyards:

Nehemiah 5:4 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 5:4

There were also that said
Who though they were able to buy corn for their families without mortgaging their estates: yet, say they,

we have borrowed money for the king's tribute, and that upon our lands
and vineyards;
for though the priests, Levites, and Nethinims, were exempted from it, yet not the people in common; and some of these were so poor, that they could not pay it without borrowing upon their estates, and paying large usury for it, see ( Ezra 6:8 ) ( 7:24 )

Nehemiah 5:4 In-Context

2 And there were some that said: Our sons and our daughters are very many: let us take up corn for the price of them, and let us eat and live.

3 And there were some that said: Let us mortgage our lands, and our vineyards, and our houses, and let us take corn because of the famine.

4 And others said: Let us borrow money for the king’s tribute, and let us give up our fields and vineyards:

5 And now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren: and our children as their children. Behold we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters, and some of our daughters are bondwomen already, neither have we wherewith to redeem them, and our fields and our vineyards other men possess.

6 And I was exceedingly angry when I heard their cry according to these words.