there is or are (or any other form of the verb to be · conjunction + cardinal number, both genders singular absolute
said
אֹמְרִ֔ים'o.me.Rim
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
mortgaged
עֹרְבִ֑ים'o.re.Vim
H6148
to braid · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
lands
שְׂדֹתֵ֛ינוּse.do.Tei.nu
H7704
a field (as flat) · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix
vineyards
וּכְרָמֵ֥ינוּu.khe.ra.Mei.nu
H3754
a garden or vineyard · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
houses
וּבָתֵּ֖ינוּu.va.Tei.nu
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
buy
וְנִקְחָ֥הve.nik.Chah
H3947
to take (in the widest variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal infinitive construct, 1st person common plural
corn
דָגָ֖ןda.Gan
H1715
properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
dearth
בָּרָעָֽבba.ra.'Av
H7458
hunger (more or less extensive) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular 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
Leviticus 25:35-39 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;…
Malachi 3:8-11 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
Genesis 47:15-25 And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread: for why…
Deuteronomy 15:7 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…
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…
Because of the dearth - About the time of Zerubbabel, God had sent a judicial dearth upon the land, as we learn from Haggai, Hag 1:9, etc., for the people it seems were more intent on building houses for themselves than on rebuilding the house of the Lord: "Ye looked for much, and, lo, it is come to little; because of mine house that is waste; and ye run, every man unto his own house. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground brought forth; and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the la…
Some also there were that said, we have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses,.... Made them over to others, put them into their hands as pledges for money received of them:
that we may buy corn; for the support of their families:
because of the dearth; or famine; which might be occasioned by their enemies lying in wait and intercepting all provisions that might be brought to them; for this seems not to be the famine spoken of in Haggai 1:10 for that was some years before this, and for a reason which now was not.
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…
Borrowing · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Country · LOVE OF — LOVE OF
Creditor · OPPRESSIONS OF — OPPRESSIONS OF
Creditors · Might demand: Mortgages on property — Might demand: Mortgages on property
Debt · SECURITY FOR — SECURITY FOR
Debtor · UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO
Famine · Instances of, in scripture: After the captivity — Instances of, in scripture: After the captivity
Homestead · Mortgaged — Mortgaged
Houses · Were mortgaged — Were mortgaged
Interest · but not generally signifying unlawful or unjust rates) — but not generally signifying unlawful or unjust rates)
Land · General references — General references
Lending · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
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…
Some small landowners had mortgaged everything to survive. The famine made the problem worse because grain was scarce and the price of food naturally increased.
Rashi on Nehemiah 5:3
And there were some who were saying “Our fields, etc.” And there were some among the poor who were complaining and saying “Our fields, vineyards and houses we shall give to others as a pledge and as security to buy corn for our food.”
for the hunger since the rich do not give any of their property up to us for our support.
Vineyards · Were often mortgaged — Were often mortgaged
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).
