Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn, because of the dearth.
Parallel translations
- WEB There were also some that said, “We are mortgaging our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses. Let us get grain, because of the famine.”
- BSB Others were saying, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our homes to get grain during the famine.”
- NKJV There were also some who said, “We have mortgaged our lands and vineyards and houses, that we might buy grain because of the famine.”
- NASB And there were others who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses so that we might get grain because of the famine.”
- NLT Others said, “We have mortgaged our fields, vineyards, and homes to get food during the famine.”
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
Others have mortgaged their fields, vineyards, and homes to buy food during famine. Survival is costing them their land and livelihood.
Overview
To eat, families pledge their very means of future provision, sinking deeper into debt. The famine compounds the burden of rebuilding the wall, which kept many from tending their fields. This mounting desperation frames the injustice Nehemiah will confront, where the strong profited from the weak in a time of shared crisis.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Lev 25:35–39And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live with thee.
- Mal 3:8–11Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
- Deut 15:7If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother:
- Gen 47:15–25And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread: for why should we die in thy presence? for the money faileth.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 5:3 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.