Nehemiah Chapter 5
Showing all 19 verses for Nehemiah Chapter 5.
The People's Bible is written by people, for the people. Each verse below shows:
"And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews. "
"A loud, angry outcry rose up from the ordinary people and their wives, aimed at their fellow Jews."
I care as much about how you treat the person next to you as about the battles you fight against outsiders. Don't let a good cause blind you to harm happening under your own roof.
"For there were that said, We, our sons, and our daughters, are many: therefore we take up corn for them, that we may eat, and live. "
"Some families said, "There are so many of us - we need to get grain just to eat and survive.""
I don't judge you for needing to feed your family. Come to me honestly with your needs rather than hiding your struggle out of shame.
"Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn, because of the dearth. "
"Others said, "We've had to put our fields, vineyards, and houses up as collateral just to buy grain, because of the famine.""
When life's storms hit you unfairly, I don't blame you for the compromises survival demands. But I call those with plenty to extend a hand, not a debt trap, to those the storm hit hardest.
"There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards. "
"Still others said, "We've had to borrow money to pay the king's tax, using our land and vineyards as security.""
I know some burdens are put on you by systems bigger than yourself. I don't ask you to feel guilty for what you cannot control - only to ask honestly for help and to be honest about what you owe.
"Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already: neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards. "
"They said, "We're the same flesh and blood as our fellow Jews - our children are no different from theirs - yet we're being forced to sell our sons and daughters into slavery, some already sold, and we're powerless to buy them back because other people now own our land.""
You are my sibling before you are my debtor. When you see someone forced to give up their own child to survive, that is not a business transaction to shrug at - it is a wound to the whole family, and I ask you to feel it as your own.
"And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words. "
"When Nehemiah heard all this, he became extremely angry."
Anger at injustice is not a sin - it is often love with its sleeves rolled up. What matters is what you do with it: let it drive you towards fixing the wrong, not towards revenge.
"Then I consulted with myself, and I rebuked the nobles, and the rulers, and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother. And I set a great assembly against them. "
"Nehemiah thought it over carefully, then confronted the nobles and officials directly, saying, "You're charging your own people interest," and he called a large public meeting to deal with them."
Don't let your first hot feeling be your only guide - pause, think, then act with resolve. And when you must confront wrongdoing, do it where it can be seen and where the wronged can witness justice being sought on their behalf.
"And I said unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; and will ye even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found nothing to answer. "
"Nehemiah said, "We've been buying back our fellow Jews who were sold to foreign nations - and now you're selling your own people back into slavery?" They had nothing to say."
Ask yourself whether you would tolerate from an outsider what you're willing to do to someone close to you. If freedom and dignity matter to you when you're the victim, they must matter just as much when someone else is.
"Also I said, It is not good that ye do: ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies? "
"Nehemiah continued, "What you're doing isn't right. Shouldn't you live in reverence of God, given that our enemies could mock us for this?""
How you treat people when no one important is watching says more about your character than any public statement of belief. Live so that your actions never make a mockery of the values you claim to hold.
"I likewise, and my brethren, and my servants, might exact of them money and corn: I pray you, let us leave off this usury. "
"Nehemiah added, "I, my relatives, and my own workers could also be charging interest on loans of money and grain - but let's stop this practice.""
If you want others to change, be willing to give up your own advantage first. Ask nothing of anyone that you would not also ask of yourself.
"Restore, I pray you, to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and of the corn, the wine, and the oil, that ye exact of them. "
"Nehemiah demanded, "Give back to them today their fields, vineyards, olive groves, and houses, along with the interest you've been charging - the money, grain, wine, and oil.""
If you've taken advantage of someone, don't just stop - make it right, and don't put it off. Genuine change shows up in what you give back, not only in what you promise for tomorrow.
"Then said they, We will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so will we do as thou sayest. Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they should do according to this promise. "
"The officials replied, "We will give it back and won't demand anything more from them - we'll do exactly as you say." So Nehemiah called the priests and made them swear an oath to keep this promise."
When you promise to change, let your word be backed by something real - accountability to someone, a clear commitment others can hold you to. Good intentions fade; real change needs structure to stick.
"Also I shook my lap, and said, So God shake out every man from his house, and from his labour, that performeth not this promise, even thus be he shaken out, and emptied. And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised the LORD. And the people did according to this promise. "
"Nehemiah shook out the folds of his robe and said, "This is how God will shake out of his house and property anyone who doesn't keep this promise - shaken out and left empty." And the whole assembly said "Amen" and praised the LORD, and the people did as they had promised."
Words matter, but actions prove them true. When I ask for a change of heart, I want to see it followed through in what you actually do - not because you fear punishment, but because your "yes" means something.
"Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even unto the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that is, twelve years, I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the governor. "
"Nehemiah notes that from the time he was appointed governor of Judah - twelve years, from King Artaxerxes' twentieth year to his thirty-second - he and his relatives never took the food allowance that governors were entitled to."
Anyone can do the right thing once. I'm more interested in whether you'll keep doing it, quietly, for years, when no one is checking up on you.
"But the former governors that had been before me were chargeable unto the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, beside forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants bare rule over the people: but so did not I, because of the fear of God. "
"Nehemiah explains that earlier governors had burdened the people, taking food, wine, and forty shekels of silver from them, and their officials had lorded it over the people too - but he didn't do that, because of his reverence for God."
Just because "everyone does it" doesn't make it right. Let your reverence for what is right, not the going custom, decide how you treat the people under your care.
"Yea, also I continued in the work of this wall, neither bought we any land: and all my servants were gathered thither unto the work. "
"Nehemiah says he devoted himself fully to the wall project, didn't acquire any land for himself, and had all his own workers join in the building work."
When you're given power or resources, ask what they're for - your own advantage, or the good of those around you? Real leadership spends itself on others rather than spending others on itself.
"Moreover there were at my table an hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers, beside those that came unto us from among the heathen that are about us. "
"Nehemiah regularly hosted about a hundred and fifty Jewish officials and leaders at his table, in addition to visitors who came from surrounding nations."
Generosity isn't only shown in one dramatic act - it can be a daily discipline, quietly repeated at your own table, welcoming people others might overlook.
"Now that which was prepared for me daily was one ox and six choice sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days store of all sorts of wine: yet for all this required not I the bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavy upon this people. "
"Nehemiah describes what was prepared for his table daily - one ox, six choice sheep, poultry, and a good supply of wine every ten days - yet he still refused to claim the governor's food allowance, because the people were already so heavily burdened."
Let what you see around you - other people's real struggles - inform what you're willing to claim for yourself. Having a right to something doesn't mean it's right to take it.
"Think upon me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people. "
"Nehemiah prays, "Remember me favourably, my God, for everything I've done for this people.""
You don't need everyone to notice your sacrifices for them to matter. I see what you give up when no one's counting, and it is never wasted or forgotten.