I likewise, my brothers and my servants, lend them money and grain. Please let us stop this usury.
Parallel translations
- KJV I likewise, and my brethren, and my servants, might exact of them money and corn: I pray you, let us leave off this usury.
- BSB I, as well as my brothers and my servants, have been lending the people money and grain. Please, let us stop this usury.
- NKJV I also, with my brethren and my servants, am lending them money and grain. Please, let us stop this usury!
- NASB And likewise I, my brothers, and my servants are lending them money and grain. Please, let’s do without this interest.
- NLT I myself, as well as my brothers and my workers, have been lending the people money and grain, but now let us stop this business of charging interest.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Nehemiah admits he too has lent money and grain, and calls for all of them to stop the usury together. He leads by including himself in the reform.
Overview
Rather than exempting himself, Nehemiah identifies with the lenders and urges abandoning the practice of charging interest on brothers. His willingness to relinquish his own claims gives moral weight to his appeal. Such self-sacrificing leadership, putting others above personal gain, reflects the heart of Christ who emptied Himself for our sake.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- 2 Cor 6:1Working together, we entreat also that you not receive the grace of God in vain,
- Exod 22:25–27“If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be to him as a creditor. You shall not charge him interest.
- Ezek 18:8he who has not lent on interest, neither has taken any increase, who has withdrawn his hand from iniquity, has executed true justice between man and man,
- 2 Cor 5:20We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
- Ps 15:5he who doesn’t lend out his money for usury, nor take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be shaken.
- Phlm 1:8–9Therefore though I have all boldness in Christ to command you that which is appropriate,
- 1 Cor 9:12–18If others partake of this right over you, don’t we yet more? Nevertheless we did not use this right, but we bear all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the Good News of Christ.
- 2 Cor 5:11Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are revealed to God; and I hope that we are revealed also in your consciences.
- Mic 2:1Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil on their beds! When the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand.
- Luke 3:13–14He said to them, “Collect no more than that which is appointed to you.”
- Neh 5:7Then I consulted with myself, and contended with the nobles and the rulers, and said to them, “You exact usury, everyone of his brother.” I held a great assembly against them.
- Ezek 18:13has lent on interest, and has taken increase; shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations. He shall surely die. His blood shall be on him.
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Christ at the center
The rebuilt walls and renewed covenant community foreshadow the greater builder who gathers and secures a people for God, the one who declares 'I will build my church.'
How Nehemiah 5:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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