I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words. Then I consulted with myself, and contended with the nobles and the rulers, and said to them, “You exact usury, everyone of his brother.” I held a great assembly against them. I said to them, “We, after our ability, have redeemed our brothers the Jews that were sold to the nations; and would you even sell your brothers, and should they be sold to us?” Then they held their peace, and found not a word to say. Also I said, “The thing that you do is not good. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the nations our enemies? I likewise, my brothers and my servants, lend them money and grain. Please let us stop this usury. Please restore to them, even today, their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and of the grain, the new wine, and the oil, that you are charging them.”
Then they said, “We will restore them, and will require nothing of them. We will do so, even as you say.” Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they would do according to this promise.
Also I shook out my lap, and said, “So may God shake out every man from his house, and from his labor, that doesn’t perform this promise; even may he be shaken out and emptied like this.” All the assembly said, “Amen,” and praised Yahweh. The people did according to this promise.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv7–11 You press them with usury, and seek how to…
You press them with usury, and seek how to bring all things into your hands.
Both because they should be moved with pity, seeing how many were by them oppressed, and also hear the judgment of others, which should be as it were witnesses of their dealings toward their brethren.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv6–13 Neh 5:6 And I was very angry when I…
Neh 5:6 And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words.
Ver. 6. And I was very angry] Red-hot with anger, and not without cause. To be angry without cause is to be guilty of judgment, Mat 5:22, but in case of God’s dishonour, and public prejudice, moderation is mopishness, toleration cowardice, &c. Nehemiah was a magistrate, that is, a mortal god; as God is an immortal magistrate. Therefore as God is angry at the oppressions of poor people (Lactantius hath written a book De Ira Dei), so should his lieutenants; and this holy anger should be cos fortitudinis, a means to encourage, or rather to enrage them against oppressors, who grind the faces of the poor, and take from them burdens of wheat, Amo 5:11. Yea, lands and vineyards, as here, eating bread baked with the tears of men, coining their money on their skins, and wringing their spunges into their own purses.
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When I heard their cry] His anger then was mixed with grief, as was our Saviour’s, Mar 3:5: it was pure zeal, which is nothing else but an extreme (but regular) heat of all the affections.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv7–13 Ye exact usury every one of his brother; which…
Ye exact usury every one of his brother; which was against the plain and positive law of God, Deu 23:19,20; especially in this time of public calamity and dearth.
I set a great assembly against them; I called a public congregation, both of the rulers and people, the greatest part whereof were free from this guilt, and therefore mere impartial judges of the matter, and represented it to them, that the offenders might be convinced, and reform this abuse; if not for fear of God, or love of their brethren, yet at least for the public shame, and the cries of the poor.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v6 It should seem the foregoing complaint was made to…
It should seem the foregoing complaint was made to Nehemiah at the time when he had his head and hands as full as possible of the public business about building the wall; yet, perceiving it to be just, he did not reject it because it was unseasonable; he did not chide the petitioners, nor fall into a passion with them, for disturbing him when they saw how much he had to do, a fault which men of business are too often guilty of; nor did he so much as adjourn the hearing of the cause or proceedings upon it till he had more leisure. The case called for speedy interposition, and therefore he applied himself immediately to the consideration of it, knowing that, let him build Jerusalem's walls ever so high, so thick, so strong, the city could not be safe while such abuses as these were tolerated. Now observe, What method he took for the redress of this grievance which was so threatening to the public.
I. He was very angry (Neh 5:6); he expressed a great displeasure at it, as a very bad thing. Note, It well becomes rulers to show themselves angry at sin, that by the anger itself they may be excited to their duty, and by the expressions of it others may be deterred from evil.
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II. He consulted with himself, Neh 5:7. By this it appears that his anger was not excessive, but kept within bounds, that, though his spirit was provoked, he did not say or do any thing unadvisedly. Before he rebuked the nobles, he consulted with himself what to say, and when, and how. Note, Reproofs must be given with great consideration, that what is well meant may not come short of its end for want of being well managed. It is the reproof of instruction that giveth life. Even wise men lose the benefit of their wisdom sometimes for want of consulting with themselves and taking time to deliberate.
III. He rebuked the nobles and rulers, who were the monied men, and whose power perhaps made them the more bold to oppress. Note, Even nobles and rulers, if they do that which is evil, ought to be told of it by proper persons. Let no man imagine that his dignity sets him above reproof.
IV. He set a great assembly against them. He called the people together to be witnesses of what he said, and to bear their testimony (which the people will generally be forward to do) against the oppressions and extortions their rulers were guilty of, Neh 5:12. Ezra and Nehemiah were both of them very wise, good, useful men, yet, in cases not unlike, there was a great deal of difference between their management: when Ezra was told of the sin of the rulers in marrying strange wives he rent his clothes, and wept, and prayed, and was hardly persuaded to attempt a reformation, fearing it to be impracticable, for he was a man of a mild tender spirit; when Nehemiah was told of as bad a thing he kindled immediately, reproached the delinquents, incensed the people against them, and never rested till, by all the rough methods he could use, he forced them to reform; for he was a man of a hot and eager spirit. Note, 1. Very holy men may differ much from each other in their natural temper and in other things that result from it. 2. God's work may be done, well done, and successfully, and yet different methods taken in the doing of it, which is a good reason why we should neither arraign the management of others nor make our own a standard. There are diversities of operation, but the same Spirit.
V. He fairly reasoned the case with them, and showed them the evil of what they did. The regular way of reforming men's lives is to endeavour, in the first place, to convince their consciences. Several things he offered to their consideration, which are so pertinent and just that it appeared he had consulted with himself. He lays it before them, 1. That those whom they oppressed were their brethren: You exact every one of his brother. It was bad enough to oppress strangers, but much worse to oppress their poor brethren, from whom the divine law did not allow them to take any usury, Deu 23:19, Deu 23:20. 2. That they were but lately redeemed out of the hand of the heathen. The body of the people were so by the wonderful providence of God; some particular persons among them were so, who, besides their share in the general captivity, were in servitude to heathen masters, and ransomed at the charge of Nehemiah and other pious and well-disposed persons. "Now," says he, "have we taken all this pains to get their liberty out of the hands of the heathen, and shall their own rulers enslave them? What an absurd thing is this! Must we be at the same trouble and expense to redeem them from you as we were to redeem them from Babylon?" Neh 5:8. Those whom God by his grace has made free ought not to be again brought under a yoke of bondage, Gal 5:1; Co1 7:23. 3. That it was a great sin thus to oppress the poor (Neh 5:9): "It is not good that you do; though you get money by it, you contract guilt by it, and ought you not to walk in the fear of God? Certainly you ought, for you profess religion, and relation to him; and, if you do walk in the fear of God, you will not be either covetous of worldly gain or cruel towards your brethren." Those that walk in the fear of God will not dare to do a wicked thing, Job 31:13, Job 31:14, Job 31:23. 4. That it was a great scandal, and a reproach to their profession. "Consider the reproach of the heathen our enemies, enemies to us, to our God, and to our holy religion. They will be glad of any occasion to speak against us, and this will give them great occasion; they will say, These Jews, that profess so much devotion to God, see how barbarous they are one to another." Note, (1.) All that profess religion should be very careful that they do nothing to expose themselves to the reproach of those that are without, lest religion be wounded through their sides. (2.) Nothing exposes religion more to the reproach of its enemies than the worldliness and hard-heartedness of the professors of it. 5. That he himself had set them a better example (Neh 5:10), which he enlarges upon afterwards, Neh 5:14, etc. Those that rigorously insist upon their right themselves will with a very ill grace persuade others to recede from theirs.
VI. He earnestly pressed them not only not to make their poor neighbours any more such hard bargains, but to restore that which they had got into their hands, Neh 5:11. See how familiarly he speaks to them: Let us leave off this usury, putting himself in, as becomes reprovers, though far from being any way guilty of the crime. See how earnestly, and yet humbly, he persuades them: I pray you leave off; and I pray you restore. Though he had authority to command, yet, for love's sake, he rather beseeches. See how particularly he presses them to be kind to the poor, to give them up their mortgages, put them again in possession of their estates, remit the interest, and give them time to pay in the principal. He urged them to their loss, yet, urging them to their duty, it would be, at length, to their advantage. What we charitably forgive will be remembered and recompensed, as well as what we charitably give.
VII. He laid them under all the obligations possible to do what he pressed them to. 1. He got a promise from them (Neh 5:12): We will restore them. 2. He sent for the priests to give them their oath that they would perform this promise; now that their convictions were strong, and they seemed resolved, he would keep them to it. 3. He bound them by a solemn curse or execration, hoping that would strike some awe upon them: So let God shake out every man that performeth not this promise, Neh 5:13. This was a threatening that he would certainly do so, to which the people said Amen, as to those curses at Mount Ebal (Deu. 27), that their throats might be cut with their own tongues if they should falsify their engagement, and that by the dread of that they might be kept to their promise. With this Amen the people praised the Lord; so far were they from promising with regret that they promised with all possible expressions of joy and thankfulness. Thus David, when he took God's vows upon him, sang and gave praise, Psa 56:12. This cheerfulness in promising was well, but that which follows was better: They did according to this promise, and adhered to what they had done, not as their ancestors in a like case, who re-enslaved those whom a little before they had released, Jer 34:10, Jer 34:11. Good promises are good things, but good performances are all in all.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv6–13 And I was very angry when I heard their…
And I was very angry when I heard their cry, and these words. Their complaint expressed in this manner; it not only raised pity and compassion in his breast towards these poor distressed people, but indignation at the rich that oppressed them.
And I was very angry when I heard their cry, and these words. Their complaint expressed in this manner; it not only raised pity and compassion in his breast towards these poor distressed people, but indignation at the rich that oppressed them.
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Nehemiah 5:7
neh 5:7
neh 5:7
neh 5:7Then I consulted with myself,.... What was to be done, what method to be taken to redress such grievances:
and I rebuked the nobles and the rulers; who were the men that monopolized the corn in this dear season, and sold it at an extravagant price, and had got the lands, vineyards, and houses of the poor mortgaged to them, and to whom they had lent money on usury:
and said unto them, you exact usury everyone of his brother; which was contrary to the express law of God, Exo 22:25 and which even the Indians (h) strictly observed, who neither let out money, nor took any upon usury:
and I set a great assembly against them; either of the poor that were oppressed, who brought in their accusations and complaints against them, or a large body of the people, who were not guilty, to hear them, that the delinquents might be put to public shame; or he called a large court of judicature, and set them to examine these allegations, and to do justice.
(h) Aelian. Var. Hist. l. 4. c. 1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv7–13 Exact - Which was against the plain and positive…
Exact - Which was against the plain and positive law of God, Deut. xxiii, 19, 20, especially in this time of publick calamity. I set - I called a publick congregation, both of the rulers and people, the greatest part whereof were free from this guilt, and therefore more impartial Judges of the matter, and represented it to them, that the offenders might be convinced, and reformed; if not for fear of God, or love of their brethren, yet at least for the publick shame and the cries of the poor. Ezra, and Nehemiah were both good and useful men; but of how different tempers? Ezra was a man of a mild tender spirit, and when told of the sin of the rulers, rent his clothes and wept: Nehemiah forced them to reform, being of a warm and eager spirit. So God's work may be done, and yet different methods taken in doing it; which is a good reason why we should not arraign the management of others, nor make our own standard.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv7, 9, 11, 13 Verse 7. Ye exact usury] This was expressly contrary…
Verse 7. Ye exact usury] This was expressly contrary to the law of God; and was doubly cruel at this time, when they were just returning out of the land of their captivity, and were suffering from the effects of a dearth. Some think that it was about the time of a Sabbatical year, when their land must have lain at rest without cultivation, and during which they were expressly commanded not to exact any debt. De 15:2.
I set a great assembly against them.] Brought all these delinquents before the rulers of the people.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 Neh 5:6-7. Then I was very angry — Grieved…
Neh 5:6-7. Then I was very angry — Grieved exceedingly at this sin of the nobles. Then I consulted with myself — I restrained the emotions of my mind, being afraid to do any thing in a fit of anger or vexation and coolly considered, and deliberated with myself, what was best to be done. And I rebuked the nobles and rulers — Who were the moneyed men, and whose power, perhaps, made them more bold to oppress; and said, You exact usury every one from his brother — Which was against the plain and positive law of God, (Deu 23:19-20,) especially in this time of public calamity and dearth. And I set a great assembly against them — I called a public congregation, both of the rulers and people, the greatest part whereof were free from this guilt, and therefore more impartial judges of the matter, and I represented it to them, that the offenders might be convinced and reformed; if not for fear of God, or love of their brethren, yet at least for the public shame, and the cries of the poor. Ezra and Nehemiah were both good and useful men; but of how different tempers! Ezra was a man of a mild, tender spirit, and when told of the sin of the rulers, rent his clothes and wept. Nehemiah forced them to reform, being of a warm and eager spirit. So God’s work may be done, and yet different methods taken in doing it; which is a good reason why we should not arraign the management of others, nor make our own a standard.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv7, 8, 10, 11, 13 Ye exact usury - The phrase is unique to…
Ye exact usury - The phrase is unique to Nehemiah, and is best explained by the context, which shows the practice of the rich Jews at the time to have been not so much to lend on usury as to lend on mortgage and pledge.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv7, 8, 11, 12, 13 Against them, as a private rebuke would not suffice.…
Against them, as a private rebuke would not suffice. (Tirinus)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v6 THE USURERS REBUKED. (Neh 5:6-19)
THE USURERS REBUKED. (Neh 5:6-19)
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 rich creditors not only to abandon their illegal and oppressive system of usury, but to restore the fields and vineyards of the poor, so that a remedy might be put to an evil the introduction of which had led to much actual disorder, and the continuance of which would inevitably prove ruinous to the newly restored colony, by violating the fundamental principles of the Hebrew constitution. The remonstrance was effectual. The conscience of the usurious oppressors could not resist the touching and powerful appeal. With mingled emotions of shame, contrition, and fear, they with one voice expressed their readiness to comply with the governor's recommendation. The proceedings were closed by the parties binding themselves by a solemn oath, administered by the priests, that they would redeem their pledge, as well as by the governor invoking, by the solemn and significant gesture of shaking a corner of his garment, a malediction on those who should violate it. The historian has taken care to record that the people did according to this promise.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv6–13 6. Very angry — Highly indignant, to find that…
6. Very angry — Highly indignant, to find that such abuses existed among a people so recently escaped from exile.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv6–13 6. I was very angry, &c.] Nehemiah’s indignation was…
6. I was very angry, &c.] Nehemiah’s indignation was excited at the excessive usury, which his own brethren and servants required (Neh_5:10), but still more at the degree to which the brotherhood of Israel was forgotten in days of common peril and of which the sale of fellow-countrymen for debt (Neh_5:8) and the alienation of the poor man’s inheritance (Neh_5:11) were the worst symptoms. Cf. Psa_119:53 ‘Hot indignation hath taken hold upon me, because of the wicked that forsake thy law.’
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv6–13 (6) And I was very angry.—Nehemiah, recently arrived, had…
(6) And I was very angry.—Nehemiah, recently arrived, had not known this state of things. The common wailing and the three complaints in which it found expression are distinct.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv6–13 I was very angry. It is not clear that…
I was very angry. It is not clear that the letter of the law was infringed, unless it were in the matter of taking interest (ver. 11), of which the people had not complained. That men might sell their daughters to be concubines or secondary wives is clear from Exo_21:7; and it is therefore probable that they might sell their sons for servants. But the servitude might only be for six years" (Exo_21:2) and if a jubilee year occurred before the sexennial period was out, the service was ended. (Lev_25:10) Land too might be either mortgaged or sold (ibid. vers. 14-16), but under the condition that it returned to the seller, or at any rate to his tribe, in the jubilee year (ibid. vers. 10, 13). The spirit, however, of the law the command, "Ye shall not oppress one another" (ibid. vers. 14, 17) was transgressed by the proceedings of the rich men. It was their duty in a time of scarcity not to press hard upon their poorer brethren, but freely to alleviate their necessities. Nehemiah, his near relations, and his followers had done so to the utmost of their power (ver. 10, with the comment). The rich men had acted differently, and made all the profit that they could out of the need of their fellow-countrymen. Hence Nehemiah"s anger.
Vers. 6, 7. Righteous anger.
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"And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words. Then I consulted with myself, and I rebuked the nobles, and the rulers." Anger is always dangerous, often evil. The anger is sinful which has its root in selfishness, which is excited by slight causes, or is blended with hatred, or issues in malice or revenge, or lasts long in any form. But there is an anger which is righteous, and the absence of which, so far from being a commendable meekness, may be occasioned by indifference to great principles, and to the general welfare of men. The text illustrates
I THE NATURE OF RIGHTEOUS ANGER.
1. Whence it springs. Love to God and man; love to righteousness, hatred of sin.
2. By what it is excited.
a. Flagrant wrong-doing,
b. consequent injury to society, and
c. counteraction of efforts for its good.
II ITS USES. To stimulate to
1. The rebuke and restraint of evil-doers.
2. Efforts for their reformation.
3. The discovery and application of remedies for the mischief they have wrought.
III ITS BEST PRESERVATIVE FROM EVIL. Reflection before acting. "I consulted with myself." No passion more demands self-control, that it run not to excess, nor hurry into unwise and sinful words and deeds. A pause to consider, and the exercise of reflection itself, will supply the needful corrective, and enable us so to govern and guide our anger that it may subserve the ends for which this passion was given.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv7, 9, 10 Then I consulted with myself.
Neh_5:7
Then I consulted with myself.
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Precipitate anger avoided
But, though very angry, he nevertheless consulted with himself. Even righteous indignation is often too precipitate in its expression, and vents itself in a fuming and storming which does little or no good. But the fervid feeling of Nehemiah was blended with practical wisdom. He took counsel with himself as to what was best to be done. (T. C. Finlayson.)
And I set a great assembly against them.
An assembly convoked against sinners
I wish to show impenitent sinners how great an assembly may be set against them. That so large a majority of mankind are on the side of irreligion, tends powerfully to preserve a majority on that side, for a large proportion of the youth in each successive generation will enlist under the banner of the strongest party. The same circumstance operates to weaken the force and prevent the success of those means and arguments which God employs for the conversion of sinners. When the man who neglects religion looks around him and sees wealth, rank, power, and influence all ranged on his side, he secretly says, I must be right, I must be safe. If I fare as well as the great mass of my fellow-creatures, I shall fare well enough. This being the case, it is important that sinners should be made to see what a great assembly may be set against them. Among those who are against them, we mention--
I. The good men now in the world. God has not a servant, Jesus Christ has not a friend on earth who is not against you. Their example is against you, their testimony is against you.
II. All the good men who have ever lived in the world, the spirits of just men made perfect.
III. All the writers of the old and new testaments. With one voice they cry, Woe to the wicked! it shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him.
IV. The Holy Angels.
V. The Lord Jesus Christ. Every doctrine which He promulgated, every precept which He enjoined, every threatening which He uttered, every action of his life, is against you. Christ meets all the impenitent, and says, Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. He meets the unbelieving, and says, He that believeth not shall be damned. He meets all the unholy, and says, Without holiness no man shall see the Lord. He meets all the unregenerate, and exclaims, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye be born again, ye cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.
VI. God the Father. (E. Payson, D. D.)
Witnesses against you
Some persons are deaf to the voice of justice until it is repeated loudly by thousands of their fellow-men. The silent voice of principle and right they will not hear, and the gentle rebuke of some one faithful friend they will despise; but when righteousness enlists public opinion on its side, when many are seen to be its advocates, then these very persons will show that they have relics of conscience left, and they yield to right demands because they see them not only to be just, but to be popular. This is the main point with those of the feebler sort, and we turn the scale if, like Nehemiah, we set a great assembly against them. I set a great assembly against--
I. The unconverted.
1. The great assembly of all the godly that are upon the earth. They all testify against you.
(1) By their consistent life.
(2) By their joy in God.
(3) By their very horror at your sin.
They cannot bear to think of that which awaits you. Holy Whitfield, when he began to touch upon that subject, would, with the tears streaming down his cheeks, cry, The wrath to come! the wrath to come! It was too much for him. He could but repeat those words and there cease.
2. All the inspired writers of the Bible.
3. The departed saints.
4. The whole company of the angels.
5. God Himself. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
6. Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
II. Those who say that sin is a very pleasnt and profitable thing. Oh, what an assembly it would be if I could bring up from the hospitals the wretches who are suffering an earthly hell from their sins I Go over the casual ward, enter the union-house, spend an evening in a low lodging-house, and sit down and hear the tales of sons of ministers, of sons of gentlemen, of sons of noblemen, of men that once were merchants, traders, lawyers, doctors, who have brought themselves down by nothing else than their own extravagance and sin to eat the bread of pauperism.
III. Those who say that true religion makes people miserable. I have suffered as much of bodily pain as most here present, and I know also about as much depression of spirit at times as any one; but my Masters service is a blessed service, and faith in Him makes my soul leap for joy. I would not change with the most healthy man, or the most wealthy man, or the most learned man, or the most eminent man in all the world, if I had to give up my faith in Jesus Christ. It is a blessed thing to be a Christian and all Gods people will tell you so. By the living saints that do rejoice, and by the dying saints who die without a fear, I set an assembly against the man who dares slander true religion by saying that it does not make men happy. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v8 (See Scofield "Exo 14:30").
redeemed
(See Scofield "Exo 14:30").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv6, 9, 12 when I heard their outcry
when I heard their outcry
The word "outcry" can be expressed as a verb. AT: "when I heard them cry out" (See: Abstract Nouns)
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You are exacting interest, each from his own brother
Every Jew would have known that it is wrong under the Law to charge interest to another Jew. The full meaning of this can be made clear. AT: "Each of you is charging interest to your own brother, and that is wrong under the Law" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
I held a great assembly against them
This means that he brought together a large group of people and brought these charges against them. The meaning of statement this can be made clear. AT: "I held a great assembly and brought these charges against them" or "I held them on trial in front of the assembly" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
but you even sell your brothers and sisters that they may be sold back to us
This means that they are selling their family members as slaves to their fellow Jews. The full meaning of this statement can be made clear. AT: "Now you are selling your own people to be slaves of your fellow Jews, so that they might later sell them back to us" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
who had been sold to the nations
This can be stated in active form. AT: "who people had sold as slaves to the nations" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
anger
word
brother
assembly
servant
Jew
nation
sister
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv6, 9, 10, 11, 12 5:6-7 Nehemiah was very angry, but he controlled himself,…
5:6-7 Nehemiah was very angry, but he controlled himself, thought it over, and then spoke out in order to resolve the conflict rather than make it worse (see Jas 1:19-20).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.