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Nehemiah 5:10

in Nehemiah 5

I, as well as my brothers and my servants, have been lending the people money and grain. Please, let us stop this usury.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And I likewise, my brethren and my servants, do lend them money and grain. I pray you, let us leave off this usury.

KJV

I likewise, and my brethren, and my servants, might exact of them money and corn: I pray you, let us leave off this usury.

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This verse in Nehemiah 5

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

Brethren - In office; these who are employed with me in the government of this people. Servants - In my name, and for my use. Exact - As a just recompense for our pains and care for the publick good, to which we wholly devote ourselves, even to the neglect of all our private concerns.

This site's exposition

let us leave off this usury

on Nehemiah 5:10-11

Nehemiah admits that he too might lawfully exact money and corn as governor, and gives up the right rather than merely condemning others who use it. He then calls for restitution that is immediate and total, restore even this day, land, vineyard, oliveyard and house, and the hundredth part of the money, corn, wine and oil already exacted. Naming his own claim first, and setting it aside, is the pattern the chapter carries through to his account of the governor's table later.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

I likewise, and my brethren, and my servants, might exact of them money and corn,.... For our maintenance, in consideration of the services done by us, which would appear but reasonable, but this we decline for the sake of easing our poor brethren: I pray you let us leave off this usury; and not exact it, as has been too much and too long used.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words--When such disorders came to the knowledge of the governor, his honest indignation was roused against the perpetrators of the evil.
I ... might exact - Nehemiah had lent, but not upon pledge.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

I, too, and my brothers and my servants I, too, and my colleagues lent them money, and we shall abandon and relinquish to them all these loans.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Nehemiah 5:10:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
give back And you shall also do as I do, to relinquish all their debts to them.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Nehemiah 5:11:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 2 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

13 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְגַם־and also

    vegam-H1571 →769 times

  • אֲנִי֙I

    ʾaniH589 →874 times

  • אַחַ֣יbrothers my

    ʾachaiH251 →630 times

  • וּנְעָרַ֔יand servants my

    unearaiH5288 →239 times

  • נֹשִׁ֥ים[are] lending

    noshimH5383 →

  • בָּהֶ֖םto them

    bahem

  • כֶּ֣סֶףmoney

    kesefH3701 →403 times

  • וְדָגָ֑ןand grain

    vedaganH1715 →40 times

  • נַֽעַזְבָה־let us abandon

    naazvah-H5800 →215 times

  • נָּ֖אplease

    na'H4994 →404 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הַמַּשָּׁ֥אthe usury

    hamasha'H4855 →3 times

  • הַזֶּֽה׃<the> this

    hazehH2088 →1180 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

12 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

2 Corinthians 6:1As God’s fellow workers, then, we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.3 worksExodus 22:25–27If you lend money to one of My people among you who is poor, you must not act as a creditor to him; you are not to charge him interest.2 works1 Corinthians 9:12–18If others have this right to your support, shouldn’t we have it all the more? But we did not exercise this right. Instead, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.1 worksEzekiel 18:13He engages in usury and takes excess interest. Will this son live? He will not! Since he has committed all these abominations, he will surely die; his blood will be on his own head.1 worksPhilemon 1:8–9So although in Christ I am bold enough to order you to do what is proper,1 works2 Corinthians 5:20Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ: Be reconciled to God.1 works
The other 6 cross-references, with their words ▾
Ezekiel 18:8He does not engage in usury or take excess interest, but he withholds his hand from iniquity and executes true justice between men.1 worksMicah 2:1Woe to those who devise iniquity and plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they accomplish it because the power is in their hands.1 worksNehemiah 5:7and after serious thought I rebuked the nobles and officials, saying, “You are exacting usury from your own brothers!” So I called a large assembly against them1 worksPsalms 15:5who lends his money without interest and refuses a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.1 worksLuke 3:13–14“Collect no more than you are authorized,” he answered.1 works2 Corinthians 5:11Therefore, since we know what it means to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is clear to God, and I hope it is clear to your conscience as well.1 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    2 Corinthians 6:1

    As God’s fellow workers, then, we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.

    it leads to

    • Hebrews 12:15

      See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, and that no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many.

    • 1 Corinthians 3:9

      For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

    • 1 Peter 4:10

      As good stewards of the manifold grace of God, each of you should use whatever gift he has received to serve one another.

    • 2 Corinthians 5:18–20

      All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:

    • Galatians 2:21

      I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, Christ died for nothing.

  • Through

    Ezekiel 18:13

    He engages in usury and takes excess interest. Will this son live? He will not! Since he has committed all these abominations, he will surely die; his blood will be on his own head.

    it leads to

    • Exodus 22:25

      If you lend money to one of My people among you who is poor, you must not act as a creditor to him; you are not to charge him interest.

    • Leviticus 20:9

      If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. He has cursed his father or mother; his blood shall be upon him.

    • Ezekiel 18:8

      He does not engage in usury or take excess interest, but he withholds his hand from iniquity and executes true justice between men.

About Nehemiah

Nehemiah Views the Ruins of Jerusalem's Walls, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Nehemiah Views the Ruins of Jerusalem's Walls, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Nehemiah: the study guide →Read Nehemiah 5 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

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