Nehemiah 5:12

Nehemiah 5:12 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Then said they, We will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so will we do as thou sayest. Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they should do according to this promise.
• New International Version (NIV)“We will give it back,” they said. “And we will not demand anything more from them. We will do as you say.” Then I summoned the priests and made the nobles and officials take an oath to do what they had promised.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Then they said, "We will restore these and require nothing from them. We will do as you say." And I called the priests and made them swear to do as they had promised.
• New King James Version (NKJV)So they said, “We will restore it, and will require nothing from them; we will do as you say.” Then I called the priests, and required an oath from them that they would do according to this promise.

Context of Nehemiah 5:12

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.’ The 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. 14All the time that I ruled the land of Judah, I did not eat the government officer's special food. I was the ruler from the 20th year of King Artaxerxes until his 32nd year as king. For all those 12 years, I and my relatives refused to eat the special food.

Nehemiah 5:12 word by word

וַיֹּאמְר֣וּ נָשִׁ֗יב וּמֵהֶם֙ לֹ֣א נְבַקֵּ֔שׁ כֵּ֣ן נַעֲשֶׂ֔ה כַּאֲשֶׁ֖ר אַתָּ֣ה אוֹמֵ֑ר וָאֶקְרָא֙ אֶת־הַכֹּ֣הֲנִ֔ים וָֽאַשְׁבִּיעֵ֔ם לַעֲשׂ֖וֹת כַּדָּבָ֥ר הַזֶּֽה׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Then saidאָמַר'âmar · to sayH559
• they, We will restoreשׁוּבshûb · to return: rescueH7725
• and will requireבָּקַשׁbâqash · to seekH1245
• nothing of them; so will we doעָשָׂה‛âώâh · to make: doH6213
• Then I calledקָרָאqârâ' · to call: call toH7121
• the priestsכֹּהֵןkôhên · priestH3548
• and took an oathשָׁבַעshâba‛ · to swearH7650
• according to this promiseדָּבָרdâbâr · ChroniclesH1697

Cross-references for Nehemiah 5:12

• 2 Chronicles 28:14So the soldiers let their prisoners go free. They gave the people and the things that they had brought from Judah to the leaders and the other people.
• Ezra 10:12All the people spoke with a loud voice. They said, ‘You are right. We will do as you say.
• Matthew 19:21Jesus said to him, ‘If you want to be completely good, then you must do this: You must sell everything that you have. Then give the money to poor people. If you do that, you will have many valuable things in heaven. Then come back and be my disciple.’
• Luke 19:8Later, Zacchaeus stood up in front of everyone. He said to the Lord Jesus, ‘Listen, Master! I will give half of all the things that I have to poor people. I may have taken too much money from some people. I will give back to them four times as much as I took from them wrongly.’
• Nehemiah 10:29All these people joined with their leaders and they promised to obey the agreement. They agreed that God should punish them if they did not obey all of God's Law. That was the Law that God had given to his servant Moses. They promised very strongly to obey all the commands, rules and laws of the Lord, our Lord.
• Nehemiah 13:25I was angry with them. I asked God to curse them. I hit some of the men. I pulled out the hair of some of them. I told them to make a promise in God's name. I said to them, ‘You must not let your daughters marry the sons of those foreign people. You must not let their daughters marry your sons. You yourselves must not marry foreign women either.
• 2 Kings 23:2He went up to the Lord's temple. All the people who lived in Jerusalem and in the rest of Judah went with him. They included the priests, the prophets, young people and old people. Everyone went to the temple. They all listened while the king read to them all the words in the Book of God's Covenant. That was the book that Hilkiah had found in the Lord's temple.
• 2 Chronicles 6:22Somebody may do a bad thing against another person. Then he may come to this temple and stand in front of your altar. He may say to you that he is not guilty of any wrong thing.
• 2 Chronicles 15:13If anyone refused to worship the Lord, Israel's God, they would punish that person with death. They agreed to do that, whoever the person was, young or old, male or female.
• Ezra 10:5So Ezra got up. He told the leaders of the priests, the Levites and all Israel's people to make a strong promise. They all promised God that they would do what they had said.
• Jeremiah 34:8At another time, the Lord gave Jeremiah another message for King Zedekiah. Zedekiah had made an agreement with the people of Jerusalem. They all agreed to let their slaves go free.
• Matthew 26:63But Jesus did not say anything. So Caiaphas said to him, ‘I use the authority of the God who lives. You must promise to tell us what is true. Are you the Messiah? Are you the Son of God?’

Commentaries on Nehemiah 5:12

• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 6-13Verses 6-13 Nehemiah knew that, if he built Jerusalem's walls ever so high, so thick, or so strong, the city could not be safe while there were abuses. The right way to reform men's lives, is to convince their consciences. If you walk in the fear of God, you will not be either covetous of worldly gain, or cruel toward your brethren. Nothing exposes religion more to reproach, than the worldliness and hard-heartedness of the professors of it. Those that…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 12required of the nobles and officials an oath: Both God and the community would hold them accountable.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 6-196-12. 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. Having summoned a public assembly, he denounced their conduct in terms of just severity. He contrasted it with his own in redeeming with his money some of the Jewish exiles who, through debt or otherwise, had lost their personal liberty in Babylon. He urged the…Read the comment

Topics related to Nehemiah 5:12

• Beneficence
• Borrowing
• Country
• Creditor
• Example
• Interest
• Kindness
• Lending
• Love
• Oath
• Poor
• Repentance
• Reproof
• Rich, the
• Usury

In the dictionaries

• Jubilee
• Shake
• Bank; Banking
• Malachi
• Salvation
• Tax; Taxing
• Versions, Georgian, Gothic, Slavonic

Commentaries on Nehemiah 5

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings