Nehemiah 5:1-13

1Some men and their wives were upset, because of the things that some other Jews were doing.

2Many of them said, ‘We are big families, with many sons and daughters. We need to have food to eat so that we can stay alive.’

3Other people said, ‘People have to lend us money to buy food. We have to give them our fields, our vineyards and our homes until we can pay them back.’

4Other people said, ‘We have to pay taxes to the king for our fields and our vineyards. People had to lend us money to pay the taxes.

5Now we have to sell our sons and daughters as slaves so that we can pay back the money. But we are from the same human family as those other Jews. Our children are not different from their children. Already some of our daughters have become slaves. Our fields and vineyards now belong to other people, so we are helpless to do anything.’

6When I heard what they were complaining about, I was very angry.

7I thought carefully about what they had said. Then I said to the Jewish leaders and officers, ‘You are cheating your own people! You are taking back more money than you have lent to them.’ I told the Jews to come together for a big meeting.

8I said to them all, ‘When our own Jewish people have become slaves of foreign people, we have tried hard to buy them back. But now you are making your own people sell their children to you. And you want us to pay you to buy them back again!’ The Jewish leaders kept quiet. They had nothing to say.

9Then I said to them, ‘You are doing something that is completely wrong. Instead, you should obey God and live in a good way. Then the foreign people who are our enemies will not have a chance to insult us.

10I myself have agreed to lend poor people money and food. My family and my friends have done the same thing. But we must not make those poor people pay back more to us.

11Now you must give back to them their fields, their vineyards, their gardens of olive trees and their houses. Do not make them pay any extra money for the money, food, wine or olive oil that you lent to them.’

12The leaders replied, ‘We will give everything back to them. We will not make them pay back their debts to us. We will do everything that you have said.’ I told the priests to come to our meeting. While they were with us, I made the Jewish leaders and officers make a strong promise. They agreed to do what they had promised to do.

13I shook my coat so that everything fell out of its pockets. I said, ‘You must all do what you have promised to do. If not, I pray that God will shake you out like that! He will take away your homes and all your things. You will be left with nothing!’ Everyone at the meeting said, ‘Amen, we agree!’ They praised the Lord. All the people did what they had promised to do.