bes - 5

bes@Nehemiah:5:1 @ And the cry of the people and their wives was great against their brethren the Jews.

bes@Nehemiah:5:2 @ And some said, We are numerous with our sons and our daughters; so we will take corn, and eat, and live.

bes@Nehemiah:5:3 @ And some said, As to our fields and vineyards and houses, let us pledge them, and we will take corn, and eat.

bes@Nehemiah:5:4 @ And some said, We have borrowed money for the king’s tributes:—our fields, and our vineyards, and houses are pledged.

bes@Nehemiah:5:5 @ And now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children are as their children: yet, behold, we are (note:)Gr. controlling tyrannically(:note) reducing our sons and our daughters to Gr. slaves slavery, and some of our daughters are enslaved: and there is no power of our hands, for our fields and our vineyards belong to the nobles.

bes@Nehemiah:5:6 @ And I was much grieved as I heard their cry and these words.

bes@Nehemiah:5:7 @ And my heart took counsel (note:)Gr. upon me(:note) within me, and I contended against the nobles, and the princes, and I said to them, Gr. shall Should every man demand of his brother what ye demand? And I appointed against them a great assembly,

bes@Nehemiah:5:8 @ and I said to them, We of our free-will have redeemed our brethren the Jews that were sold to the Gentiles; and do ye sell your brethren? and shall they be delivered to us? And they were silent, and found no answer.

bes@Nehemiah:5:9 @ And I said, The thing which ye do is not good; ye will not so walk in the fear of our God (note:)Gr. from(:note) because of the reproach of the Gentiles our enemies.

bes@Nehemiah:5:10 @ Both my brethren, and my acquaintances, and I, have (note:)Gr. set, or placed to them; See Hebrew(:note) lent them money and corn: let us now leave off this exaction.

bes@Nehemiah:5:11 @ Restore to them, I pray, as at this day, their fields, and their vineyards, and their olive-yards, and their houses, and bring forth to them corn and wine and oil of the money.

bes@Nehemiah:5:12 @ And they said, We will restore, and we will not exact of them; we will do thus as thou sayest. Then I called the priests, and bound them by oath to do according to this word.

bes@Nehemiah:5:13 @ And I shook out my garment, and said, So may God shake out every man who shall not keep to this word, from his house, and from his (note:)q. d. fruits of labour(:note) labours, he shall be even thus shaken out, as an outcast and empty. And all the congregation said, Amen, and they praised the Lord: and the people did this thing.

bes@Nehemiah:5:14 @ From the day that (note:)i. e., Artaxerxes the king(:note) he charged me to be their ruler in the land of Juda, from the twentieth year even to the thirty-second year of Arthasastha, twelve years, I and my brethren ate not provision extorted from them.

bes@Nehemiah:5:15 @ But as for the former acts of extortion wherein those who were before me oppressed them, they even took of them their last money, forty didrachms for bread and wine; and the very outcasts of them (note:)Gr. exercise(:note) exercised authority over the people: but I did not so, because of the fear of God.

bes@Nehemiah:5:16 @ Also in the work of the wall I treated them not with rigor, I bought not land: and all that were gathered together came (note:)Gr. there(:note) thither to the work.

bes@Nehemiah:5:17 @ And the Jews, to the number of a hundred and fifty men, besides those coming to us from the nations round about, were at my table.

bes@Nehemiah:5:18 @ And there came to me for one day one calf, and I had six choice sheep and a goat; and every ten days wine in abundance of all sorts: yet with these I required not the bread of extortion, because the bondage was heavy upon this people.

bes@Nehemiah:5:19 @ Remember me, O God, for good, in all that I have done to this people.

Nehemiah 5