Nehemiah 5:1-8

1About that time there was a great outcry from the people and their wives against their fellow Jews.

2Some were saying, “We and our sons and daughters are numerous. We must get grain in order to eat and stay alive.”

3Others were saying, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our homes to get grain during the famine.”

4Still others were saying, “We have borrowed money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards. 5We and our children are just like our countrymen and their children, yet we are subjecting our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters are already enslaved, but we are powerless to redeem them because our fields and vineyards belong to others.”

6When I heard their outcry and these complaints, I became extremely angry, 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 them 8and said, “We have done our best to buy back our Jewish brothers who were sold to foreigners, but now you are selling your own brothers, that they may be sold back to us!”

But they remained silent, for they could find nothing to say.