Nehemiah 5:4

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

Majority Standard Bible

In The King James Version

There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards.

In Context

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

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.”

Read all of Nehemiah 5

Cross References

Deuteronomy 28:47Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart in all your abundance,

1 Kings 9:21their descendants who remained in the land, those whom the Israelites were unable to devote to destruction—Solomon conscripted these people to be forced laborers, as they are to this day.

Ezra 4:20And mighty kings have ruled over Jerusalem and exercised authority over the whole region west of the Euphrates; and tribute, duty, and toll were paid to them.

Nehemiah 9:37Its abundant harvest goes to the kings You have set over us because of our sins. And they rule over our bodies and our livestock as they please. We are in great distress.

Matthew Henry on Nehemiah 5:2-6

The Complaints of the Poor. ( b. c. 445.) 1 And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews. 2 For there were that said, We, our sons, and our daughters, are many: therefore we take up corn for them, that we may eat, and live. 3 Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn, because of the dearth. 4 There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards. 5… Read the whole commentary →

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