Nehemiah 5 4

Nehemiah 5:4 kjv

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

Nehemiah 5:4 nkjv

There were also those who said, "We have borrowed money for the king's tax on our lands and vineyards.

Nehemiah 5:4 niv

Still others were saying, "We have had to borrow money to pay the king's tax on our fields and vineyards.

Nehemiah 5:4 esv

And there were those who said, "We have borrowed money for the king's tax on our fields and our vineyards.

Nehemiah 5:4 nlt

And others said, "We have had to borrow money on our fields and vineyards to pay our taxes.

Nehemiah 5 verses

Nehemiah 5 4 Meaning

Nehemiah 5:4 describes a further dimension of economic distress faced by some among the returning Jewish exiles in Jerusalem. These individuals were forced into debt, specifically borrowing money (silver) to pay the significant taxes or tribute demanded by the Persian king. This payment was levied on their essential means of livelihood: their fields and vineyards. This reveals a situation where external governmental obligations combined with internal economic hardship, forcing people to risk their inherited land and their primary sources of sustenance just to meet unavoidable financial demands.

Nehemiah 5 4 Context

Nehemiah 5:4 is part of a wider narrative in Nehemiah chapter 5, which exposes a severe internal crisis among the Jewish people engaged in rebuilding Jerusalem's walls. While they faced external threats and mockery from their enemies, a deeper issue of economic exploitation had arisen from within. Verses 1-5 record the collective "outcry" of various groups: first, a general shortage of food, then the need to mortgage land and homes for provisions during a famine (Neh 5:2-3), and finally, in verse 4, the specific burden of borrowing money to pay the king's heavy taxes on their fields and vineyards. This immediately precedes Nehemiah's swift and decisive intervention, where he confronted the Jewish nobles and officials who were guilty of charging exorbitant interest and taking collateral, ultimately compelling them to return the confiscated property and cease the usury. This chapter highlights Nehemiah's leadership not just in wall-building, but also in social justice, restoring the moral and spiritual health of the community in line with God's law concerning the treatment of the poor and the sanctity of family inheritance.

Historically, the Judeans under Persian rule were subjected to imperial taxes, tributes, and customs, which were often collected rigorously. For an agrarian society reliant on their fields and vineyards for sustenance and income, these taxes, especially during periods of scarcity or drought, could be devastating. This forced many into a desperate cycle of debt, risking the very land that defined their family inheritance and covenant identity within Israel, a land granted to them by God and meant to be passed down through generations. The practice of their wealthy countrymen exploiting this dire situation by charging interest or demanding collateral contradicted Mosaic Law, which prohibited usury among fellow Israelites (Exo 22:25; Lev 25:35-37; Deut 23:19-20).

Nehemiah 5 4 Word analysis

• Some also were saying (וְיֵשׁ אֲשֶׁר אָמְרוּ):

  • Transliteration: v'yesh asher am'ru
  • Meaning: "And there were those who said."
  • Significance: Indicates a continuation or another distinct facet of the widespread complaints and desperation. It emphasizes that the grievances were multifaceted and affected various segments of the community, not just one type of problem. This specific group's issue highlights a governmental burden rather than merely a personal lack of food.

• We have borrowed money (לָוִינוּ כֶּסֶף):

  • Transliteration: lavinu keseph
  • Meaning: lavinu from lavah (לָוָה), "to borrow, be in debt;" keseph (כֶּסֶף), "silver, money."
  • Significance: Explicitly refers to incurring debt, not just needing assistance. "Silver" (money) signifies formal loans, likely from wealthier Jewish citizens who acted as creditors, charging interest (contrary to Mosaic Law) on these transactions. This put the borrowers in a vulnerable position of servitude to their lenders, compounding their plight.

• for the king's tax (לְמִדַּת הַמֶּלֶךְ):

  • Transliteration: l'midat ha'melech
  • Meaning: midah (מִדָּה), "measure, tribute, tax;" melech (מֶלֶךְ), "king."
  • Significance: This is a crucial element as it identifies the direct, non-negotiable cause of the debt: taxes levied by the ruling Persian monarch. This burden was external, imposed, and could not be avoided. This shows that their debt wasn't due to frivolous spending, but a desperate measure to comply with the empire's demands, highlighting the heavy weight of foreign subjugation.

• on our fields (עַל שָׂדֵינוּ):

  • Transliteration: al sadeynu
  • Meaning: "Upon our field(s)."
  • Significance: Refers to their agricultural land, the primary source of their livelihood, sustenance, and generational wealth. In ancient Israel, fields were divinely allocated inheritances (Num 26:52-56; Lev 25:23), symbolizing a family's connection to the promised land and its future security. Pledging or losing fields was an existential threat, disrupting the very foundation of their socio-economic and spiritual identity.

• and our vineyards (וְכַרְמֵינוּ):

  • Transliteration: v'karmeinu
  • Meaning: "And our vineyard(s)."
  • Significance: Like fields, vineyards were vital assets, providing produce (grapes for wine, oil) and serving as crucial family inheritance. These productive properties were the core of their economy. Placing these as collateral underscored the extremity of their situation; their entire economic foundation was at risk of forfeiture due to unavoidable state-imposed levies, intensified by the exploitative practices of fellow Israelites.

• Words-group: "borrowed money for the king's tax on our fields and our vineyards"

  • This phrase encapsulates the oppressive systemic reality facing the post-exilic community. It vividly describes how the external pressure of heavy imperial taxation, an inescapable obligation, intersected with the internal moral failure of certain wealthy Jews who exploited their kinsmen's plight. The people were forced to go into debt, using their vital agricultural properties (fields and vineyards) – which were meant to be enduring family inheritances in the promised land – as collateral. This created a cycle of dependency and threatened the permanent loss of their patrimony, highlighting a deep betrayal of covenant obligations and communal solidarity by the lenders.

Nehemiah 5 4 Bonus section

• The Hebrew term for "tax" or "tribute," midah, is also used for "measure" (Ezra 4:13; 7:24), suggesting a calculated or fixed amount, perhaps collected per acre or yield. Historical records indicate that Persian taxes could be extremely burdensome, sometimes leading entire regions to bankruptcy.
• The socio-economic stratification within the returning exiles became apparent through this crisis. Some had retained or accumulated wealth, while others, due to larger families, famine, or taxation, were pushed into severe destitution. This verse highlights the wealthy Jewish elite's failure to uphold their covenantal duty to their impoverished brethren.
• The very act of mortgaging their fields and vineyards was deeply problematic according to the spirit, if not always the letter, of the Mosaic Law. The law (Lev 25) emphasized that land ultimately belonged to God and should remain within families, with provisions for redemption and the Jubilee year ensuring its return. This situation demonstrated how desperation led to practices that threatened this core theological principle of inheritance.
• Nehemiah's swift and passionate response (Neh 5:6ff) stemmed from a righteous indignation that such grave injustices were occurring within God's covenant community, violating the very principles upon which Israel was to be built. It was an internal enemy more insidious than the external threats, capable of destroying the community from within.

Nehemiah 5 4 Commentary

Nehemiah 5:4 reveals a critical dimension of the socio-economic crisis plaguing the post-exilic community in Jerusalem. This was not merely about hunger, but a systemic problem rooted in external pressures and internal moral decay. The people were compelled to borrow money from their wealthier countrymen to satisfy the king's tax, a compulsory tribute on their agricultural lands. This dire necessity forced them to jeopardize their very means of subsistence—their fields and vineyards, the sacred, inherited lands that formed the bedrock of their identity and security in God's covenant. The irony and tragedy were profound: while rebuilding physical walls, the community's spiritual and social fabric was eroding due to the unrighteous exploitation of the vulnerable by their own brethren, a blatant disregard for Mosaic Law's prohibitions on usury and the permanent alienation of ancestral lands. This desperate act underscored the double burden they faced: imperial tribute from abroad and economic exploitation from within, illustrating a deep violation of the fraternal love and justice that God required of His people.