And there was a great outcry of the people and their wives against their Jewish brethren.
Parallel translations
- WEB Then there arose a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brothers the Jews.
- KJV And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews.
- BSB About that time there was a great outcry from the people and their wives against their fellow Jews.
- NASB Now there was a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers.
- NLT About this time some of the men and their wives raised a cry of protest against their fellow Jews.
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
A great outcry arises among the poorer Jews against their wealthier fellow Jews. Internal injustice now threatens the community from within.
Overview
With the external threat momentarily checked, a new crisis erupts: economic oppression among God's own people. The "great cry" recalls Israel's cry under Egyptian bondage, signaling serious injustice. This shows that sin within the covenant community can be as dangerous as enemies outside it, and it sets up Nehemiah's call to reform.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Isa 5:7For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.
- Deut 15:7–11If a poor man, one of your brothers, is with you within any of your gates in your land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother;
- Job 31:38–39If my land cries out against me, and its furrows weep together;
- Jas 5:4Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Armies.
- Exod 3:7Yahweh said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.
- Luke 18:7Won’t God avenge his chosen ones, who are crying out to him day and night, and yet he exercises patience with them?
- 1 Cor 6:6–8But brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers!
- 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.
- Job 34:28so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him. He heard the cry of the afflicted.
- Acts 7:26“The day following, he appeared to them as they fought, and urged them to be at peace again, saying, ‘Sirs, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?’
- Lev 25:35–37“‘If your brother has become poor, and his hand can’t support himself among you; then you shall uphold him. He shall live with you like an alien and a temporary resident.
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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 5:1 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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