The Poor Complain about Their Rich Relatives

5 Then some of the people, the men and their wives, complained publicly about their Jewish relatives. ² Some of them said, “We have large families! We need some grain ⌞if we are going⌟ to eat and stay alive.” ³ Others said, “We’ve had to mortgage our fields, our vineyards, and our homes in order to get some grain because of this famine.” ⁴ Others said, “We’ve had to borrow money to pay the king’s taxes on our fields and vineyards. ⁵ We have the same flesh and blood as our relatives. Our children are just like theirs. Yet, we have to force our sons and daughters to become slaves. Some of our daughters have already become slaves. But we can’t do anything else when our fields and vineyards belong to others.”

Nehemiah Stops the Rich from Taking Advantage of the Poor

⁶ I became furious when I heard their complaint and what they had to say. ⁷ After thinking it over, I confronted the nobles and the leaders. I told them, “You are charging interest on loans made to your own relatives.” I arranged for a large meeting to deal with them. ⁸ Then I told them, “We have done our best to buy back our Jewish relatives who had been sold to other nations. Now you are selling your Jewish relatives so that we have to buy them back again!” They were unable to say anything. ⁹ I added, “What you’re doing is wrong. Shouldn’t you live in the fear of our God to keep our enemies from ridiculing us? ¹⁰ My brothers, my servants, and I are lending money and grain to the poor. But we must stop charging them interest. ¹¹ You must return their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their homes today. Also, you must return the interest on the money, grain, new wine, and olive oil you’ve been charging them.”

¹² They responded, “We’ll return it and not try to get it from them ⌞again⌟. We’ll do what you say.” Then I called the priests and made them swear to do what they promised. ¹³ I brushed off my clothes and said, “In the same way, may God brush off from home and work everyone who refuses to keep this promise. In the same way, may everyone be brushed off and left with nothing.” Then the whole congregation said amen and praised the Lord. The people did what they had promised.

Nehemiah Never Takes What Is Rightfully His as Governor

¹⁴ During the 12 years that I was governor of Judah, from the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes’ reign to the thirty-second year of his reign, my brothers and I never ate any food that was paid for by the governor’s food allowance. ¹⁵ Those who were governors before me had made life difficult for the people by taking from them food and wine plus one pound of silver. Even the governors’ servants took advantage of their power over the people. But I didn’t do that, because I feared God. ¹⁶ Instead, I put my best effort into the work on this wall, and we bought no land. All my men gathered here for work. ¹⁷ I fed 150 Jewish leaders and their people who came to us from the surrounding nations. ¹⁸ Preparing one ox and six choice sheep was necessary every day. Poultry was prepared for me. Once every ten days a supply of wine was ordered. Yet, in spite of all this, I never demanded anything from the governor’s food allowance, because these people were already carrying a heavy load.

Nehemiah’s Prayer

¹⁹ Remember me, my God. Consider everything that I have done for these people.

Sanballat Tries to Harm Nehemiah

6 Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and that no gaps had been left in it (although at that time I had not yet hung the doors in the city gates). ² Then Sanballat and Geshem sent this message to me: “Let’s meet in Hakkephirim on the plain of Ono.” They were planning to harm me.

³ I sent messengers to tell them, “I’m working on an important project and can’t get away. Why should the work stop while I leave to meet with you?” ⁴ They sent the same message to me four times, and I answered them the same way. ⁵ When Sanballat sent me the same message a fifth time, his servant held in his hand an unsealed letter. ⁶ In it was written:

It has been reported throughout the nations, and Geshem has confirmed it, that you and the Jews are planning to rebel. That’s why you’re rebuilding the wall. According to this report, you want to become their king. ⁷ You’ve appointed prophets to announce about you in Jerusalem, ‘There’s a king in Judah!’ This report will get back to the king. So let’s talk about this.

⁸ Then I sent someone to tell him, “None of your accusations are true. You are making them up out of your own imagination.”

⁹ They were all trying to intimidate us. They thought we would give up and not finish the work.

But God made me strong.

¹⁰ ⌞One day⌟ I went to the home of Shemaiah, son of Delaiah and grandson of Mehetabel. Shemaiah who was confined to his house, said, “Let’s meet in the house of God, inside the temple, and close the temple doors. Some men are coming at night to kill you.”

¹¹ But I asked, “Should a man like me run away? Would a man like me go into the temple to save his life? I won’t go.”

¹² Then I realized that God hadn’t sent him. Instead, Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him to prophesy against me. ¹³ He was hired to intimidate me into doing this so that I would sin. Then they could give me a bad reputation in order to discredit me.

¹⁴ ⌞Nehemiah prayed,⌟ “My God, remember what Tobiah and Sanballat have done. Also, remember the female prophet Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who have been trying to intimidate me.”

The Wall Rebuilt in Spite of Opposition

¹⁵ The wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Elul. The wall took 52 days to finish. ¹⁶ When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence. They realized we had done this work with the help of our God.

Traitors on the Inside

¹⁷ In those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah sent many letters back to them. ¹⁸ Many in Judah had promised to support Tobiah because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah, Arah’s son. In addition, Tobiah’s son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam, Berechiah’s son. ¹⁹ The nobles were singing Tobiah’s praises to me and reporting to him what I said. Tobiah kept sending letters to intimidate me.