Nehemiah 5:2-11

2There were those who said, “We and our sons and our daughters are numerous. We must take grain, so we may eat and live.”

3There were others who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our houses in order to obtain grain during the famine.”

4Still others were saying, “We have borrowed money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards.

5And now, though we share the same flesh as our brothers, and our children are just like their children, still we subject our sons and our daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters have already been enslaved but our hands are tied since our fields and vineyards belong to others.”

6I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these words.

7I pondered them in my heart and then I opposed the nobles and the officials, saying to them, “Usury! Each of you is putting his brother in debt!” So I convened a great assembly to deal with them.

8I said to them, “As much as possible, we have bought back our fellow Jews who had been sold to the nations. Now you also are selling your brothers so that they will be sold back to us?” Then they became silent and could not find anything to say.

9Then I said, “The thing that you are doing is not good! Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God, in order to avoid the reproach of our Gentile enemies?

10Even I, my brothers, and my servants are lending them money and grain. Let this usury stop, now!

11Now, return to them this very day, their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves and their houses, as well as the hundredth that you have extracted from them on the money, the grain, the new wine, and the fresh oil.”