I, as well as my brothers and my servants, have been lending the people money and grain. Please, let us stop this usury.
Parallel translations
- WEB I likewise, my brothers and my servants, lend them money and grain. Please let us stop this usury.
- 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.
- 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 6:1As God’s fellow workers, then, we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.
- Exod 22:25–27If you lend money to one of My people among you who is poor, you must not act as a creditor to him; you are not to charge him interest.
- Ezek 18:8He does not engage in usury or take excess interest, but he withholds his hand from iniquity and executes true justice between men.
- 2 Cor 5:20Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ: Be reconciled to God.
- Ps 15:5who lends his money without interest and refuses a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.
- Phlm 1:8–9So although in Christ I am bold enough to order you to do what is proper,
- 1 Cor 9:12–18If others have this right to your support, shouldn’t we have it all the more? But we did not exercise this right. Instead, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.
- 2 Cor 5:11Therefore, since we know what it means to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is clear to God, and I hope it is clear to your conscience as well.
- Mic 2:1Woe to those who devise iniquity and plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they accomplish it because the power is in their hands.
- Luke 3:13–14“Collect no more than you are authorized,” he answered.
- Neh 5:7and after serious thought I rebuked the nobles and officials, saying, “You are exacting usury from your own brothers!” So I called a large assembly against them
- Ezek 18:13He engages in usury and takes excess interest. Will this son live? He will not! Since he has committed all these abominations, he will surely die; his blood will be on his own head.
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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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.