Nehemiah 5:3
in Nehemiah 5Others were saying, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our homes to get grain during the famine.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Some also there were that said, We are mortgaging our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses: let us get grain, because of the dearth.
KJV
Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn, because of the dearth.
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This verse in Nehemiah 5
Commentary
5 notes on this verseSome also there were that said, we have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses,.... Made them over to others, put them into their hands as pledges for money received of them: that we may buy corn; for the support of their families: because of the dearth; or famine; which might be occasioned by their enemies lying in wait and intercepting all provisions that might be brought to them; for this seems not to be the famine spoken of in Hag 1:10 for that was some years before this, and for a reason which now was not.
This site's exposition
a great cry of the people
on Nehemiah 5:1-3
The complaint rises as one voice, poor Jews crying out against their own brethren rather than against Persia, because the crisis inside the wall has turned out worse than the enemy outside it. Some have too many mouths and no food left to feed them; others have already mortgaged field, vineyard and house for corn during a dearth the enemy's siege pressure has made worse. The reproach here is Jew oppressing Jew, in the very season Nehemiah has called the whole city to build together.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Thus foolish sinful men bring God's judgments upon themselves, and then fret and complain of them. When the markets are high, and provisions scarce and dear, the poor soon feel from it, and are pinched by it. Blessed be God for the mercy, and God deliver us from the sin, of fulness of bread, Ezek. xvi.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Because of the dearth - About the time of Zerubbabel, God had sent a judicial dearth upon the land, as we learn from Haggai, Hag 1:9, etc., for the people it seems were more intent on building houses for themselves than on rebuilding the house of the Lord: “Ye looked for much, and, lo, it is come to little; because of mine house that is waste; and ye run, every man unto his own house. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The condition of the poorer inhabitants was indeed deplorable; for, besides the deficient harvests caused by the great rains (Ezr 10:9; also Hag 1:6-11), a dearth was now threatened by the enemy keeping such a multitude pent up in the city, and preventing the country people bringing in provisions.
The words behind it
11 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְיֵשׁ֙ | veyesh | and there | H3426 → | 140 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֣ר | ʾasher | [were those] who | H834 → | 5497 times |
| אֹמְרִ֔ים | ʾomerim | [were] saying | H559 → | 5305 times |
| שְׂדֹתֵ֛ינוּ | sedoteinu | fields our | H7704 → | 334 times |
| וּכְרָמֵ֥ינוּ | ukherameinu | and vineyards our | H3754 → | 92 times |
| וּבָתֵּ֖ינוּ | uvateinu | and houses our | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| אֲנַ֣חְנוּ | ʾanachnu | we | H587 → | 120 times |
| עֹרְבִ֑ים | ʾorevim | [are] mortgaging | H6148 → | |
| וְנִקְחָ֥ה | venikchah | and we will get | H3947 → | 966 times |
| דָגָ֖ן | dagan | grain | H1715 → | 40 times |
| בָּרָעָֽב׃ | baraav | in the famine | H7458 → |
וְיֵשׁ֙and there
veyeshH3426 →140 times
אֲשֶׁ֣ר[were those] who
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
אֹמְרִ֔ים[were] saying
ʾomerimH559 →5305 times
שְׂדֹתֵ֛ינוּfields our
sedoteinuH7704 →334 times
וּכְרָמֵ֥ינוּand vineyards our
ukherameinuH3754 →92 times
וּבָתֵּ֖ינוּand houses our
uvateinuH1004 →2046 times
אֲנַ֣חְנוּwe
ʾanachnuH587 →120 times
עֹרְבִ֑ים[are] mortgaging
ʾorevimH6148 →
וְנִקְחָ֥הand we will get
venikchahH3947 →966 times
דָגָ֖ןgrain
daganH1715 →40 times
בָּרָעָֽב׃in the famine
baraavH7458 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach 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
Deuteronomy 15:7If there is a poor man among your brothers within any of the gates in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, then you are not to harden your heart or…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 15:9
Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought in your heart: “The seventh year, the year of release, is near,” so that you look upon your poor brother begrudgingly and give him nothing. He…
- Proverbs 21:13
Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too shall cry out and receive no answer.
- 1 John 3:16–17
By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
- James 2:15–16
Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.
- Matthew 18:30
But he refused. Instead, he went and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay his debt.
- Deuteronomy 15:9
About Nehemiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.