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We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute,
and that upon
our lands and vineyards.
5
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.
6
And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words.
7
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.
8
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.
9
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?
10
I likewise,
and
my brethren, and my servants, might exact
of them money and corn: I pray you, let us leave off this usury.
11
Restore, I pray you, to them,
even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses, also the the hundredth
part
of the money, and of the corn, the wine, and the oil, that ye exact of them.
12
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.
13
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 L
ORD
. And the people did according to this promise.
14
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.
15
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.
16
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.
17
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.
18
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.
19
Think
upon me, my God, for good,
according
to all that I have done for this people.
CHAPTER 6
Now it came to pass, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our
enemies, heard that I had builded the wall, and
that
there was no breach left therein; (though at that
time I had not set up the doors upon the gates;)
2
That Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying,
Come, let us meet together in
some one of
the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do
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