great (in any sense) · adjective, feminine singular absolute
cry
צַעֲקַ֥תtza.'a.Kat
H6818
a shriek · noun, common feminine singular construct
people
הָעָ֛םha.'Am
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
wives
וּנְשֵׁיהֶ֖םu.ne.shei.Hem
H802
a woman · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
brethren
אֲחֵיהֶ֖ם'a.chei.Hem
H251
a brother (used in the widest sense of literal relation… · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
Jews
הַיְּהוּדִֽיםhai.ye.hu.Dim
H3064
a Jehudite (i.e. Judaite or Jew) · definite article + noun, gentilic masculine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Isaiah 5:7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behol…
Deuteronomy 15:7-11 If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt n…
Exodus 3:7 And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmaster…
Exodus 22:25-27 If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury.
Leviticus 25:35-37 And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner;…
Job 31:38-39 If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain;
Job 34:28 So that they cause the cry of the poor to come unto him, and he heareth the cry of the afflicted.
Luke 18:7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Nehemiah 5:1-5
We have here the tears of the oppressed, which Solomon considered, Ecc 4:1. Let us consider them as here they are dropped before Nehemiah, whose office it was, as governor, to deliver the poor and needy, and rid them out of the hand of the wicked oppressors, Psa 82:4. Hard times and hard hearts made the poor miserable.
I. The times they lived in were hard. There was a dearth of corn (Neh 5:3), probably for want of rain, with which God had chastised their neglect of his house (Hag 1:9-11) and the non-payment of their church-dues, Mal 3:9, Mal 3:10. Thus foolish sinful men bring God's judgments upon themselves, and then fret and complain of them. When the markets are high, and provisions scarc…
And there was a great cry of the people, and of their wives,.... Those of the poorer sort:
against their brethren the Jews; the rich that oppressed them; and this cry or complaint was made to Nehemiah for redress.
Keil & Delitzsch on Nehemiah 5:1-5
The people complain of oppression. - Neh 5:1 There arose a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews, i.e., as appears from what follows (Neh 5:7), against the nobles and rulers, therefore against the richer members of the community. This cry is more particularly stated in Neh 5:2, where the malcontents are divided into three classes by וישׁ, Neh 5:2, Neh 5:3, Neh 5:4.
Neh 5:2
There were some who said: Our sons and our daughters are many, and we desire to receive corn, that we may eat and live. These were the words of those workers who had no property. נקחה (from לקח), not to take by force, but only to desire that corn may be provided.
Neh 5:3
Others, who wer…
Although severe financial problems threatened to derail the wall’s completion (5:1-5), Nehemiah worked out a solution (5:6-13).
The Church Fathers
And there was a great outcry of the people and their wives, etc. Indeed, the people desired to build the city wall, but due to the great famine, they were hindered from the sacred work. This famine was caused not only by the shortage of crops but also by the greed of the rulers, who demanded greater tributes from the same people than they could pay, which we see happening in the same manner among us daily. For how many are there among the people of God who willingly desire to obey divine commands, but are prevented from fulfilling what they desire by the lack of temporal goods and poverty, and the examples of those who seem to be adorned with the appearance of religion, when they themselves, from those they appear to govern, demand an immense weight and tribute of secular goods, and contribute nothing to their eternal salvation, either by teaching, or providing examples of living, or by performing works of piety. And would that some Nehemiah in our days, that is, a comforter sent by the Lord, would restrain our errors, ignite our hearts towards divine love, turning our hands away from our own wills to build the city of Christ. But let us see according to the letter, for the outcry of the afflicted people was increased by a threefold distinction. Some, indeed, compelled by hunger, were arranging to sell their children for food to the wealthier; others, sparing their children, preferred to give their fields and homes for food; still others, preventing both the sale of their children and their fields, only persuaded this, that they should borrow money for the king's tribute, with their fields and vineyards given in pledge, until, with the return of abundance and crops, they could repay what they had borrowed to the moneylenders.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Jubilee — A joyful shout or clangour of trumpets, the name of the great semi-centennial festival of the Hebrews. It lasted for a year. During this year the land was to be fallow, and the Israelites were only…
Loan — The Mosaic law required that when an Israelite needed to borrow, what he asked was to be freely lent to him, and no interest was to be charged, although interest might be taken of a foreigner (Ex.…
Borrowing · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Country · LOVE OF — LOVE OF
Creditor · OPPRESSIONS OF — OPPRESSIONS OF
Interest · but not generally signifying unlawful or unjust rates) — but not generally signifying unlawful or unjust rates)
Lending · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Rich, The · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Rashi on Nehemiah 5:1
Now the cry of the people and their wives was great The poor people were crying exceedingly.
about their brothers, the Jews about their brothers, the rich Jews.
