Nehemiah deals with oppression
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And there is a great cry of the people and their wives, concerning their brothers the Jews,
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indeed, there are [those] who are saying, “Our sons, and our daughters, we—are many, and we receive grain, and eat, and live.”
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And there are [those] who are saying, “Our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses, we are pledging, and we receive grain for the famine.”
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And there are [those] who are saying, “We have borrowed money for the tribute of the king, [on] our fields, and our vineyards;
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and now, as the flesh of our brothers [is] our flesh, as their sons [are] our sons, and behold, we are subduing our sons and our daughters for servants, and there are [those] of our daughters subdued, and our hand has no might, and our fields and our vineyards [are] to others.”
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And it is very displeasing to me when I have heard their cry and these words,
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and my heart reigns over me, and I strive with the nobles, and with the prefects, and say to them, “You are exacting usury on one another”; and I set against them a great assembly,
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and say to them, “We have acquired our brothers the Jews, those sold to the nations, according to the ability that [is] in us, and you also sell your brothers, and they have been sold to us!” And they are silent, and have not found a word.
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And I say, “The thing that you are doing [is] not good; do you not walk in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the nations our enemies?
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And also, I, my brothers, and my servants, are exacting silver and grain on them; please let us leave off this usury.
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Please give back to them, as today, their fields, their vineyards, their olive-yards, and their houses, and the hundredth [part] of the money, and of the grain, of the new wine, and of the oil, that you are exacting of them.”
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And they say, “We give back, and we seek nothing from them; so we do as you are saying.” And I call the priests, and cause them to swear to do according to this thing;
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also, I have shaken my lap, and I say, “Thus God shakes out every man from his house and from his labor who does not perform this thing; indeed, thus is he shaken out and empty”; and all the assembly says, “Amen,” and praises YHWH; and the people do according to this thing.
The generosity of Nehemiah
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Also, from the day that he appointed me to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king—twelve years—I, and my brothers, have not eaten the bread of the governor:
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the former governors who [are] before me have made themselves heavy on the people, and take of them in bread and wine, besides forty shekels in silver; also, their servants have ruled over the people—and I have not done so, because of the fear of God.
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And also, in the work of this wall I have done mightily, even a field we have not bought, and all my servants are gathered there for the work;
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and of the Jews, and of the prefects, one hundred and fifty men, and those coming to us of the nations that [are] around us, [are] at my table;
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and that which has been prepared for one day [is] one ox, six fat sheep, also birds have been prepared for me, and once in ten days of all wines abundantly, and with this, the bread of the governor I have not sought, for heavy is the service on this people.
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Remember for me, O my God, for good, all that I have done for this people.
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