¹tn Heb “brothers.”
²tn Heb “take” (so also in v. 3).
³tn Heb “for the tax of the king.”
⁴tn Heb “according to the flesh of our brothers is our flesh.”
⁵tn Heb “like their children, our children.”
⁶tn Heb “to become slaves” (also later in this verse).
⁷tn Heb “there is not power for our hand.” The Hebrew expression used here is rather difficult.
⁸sn The poor among the returned exiles were being exploited by their rich countrymen. Moneylenders were loaning large amounts of money, and not only collecting interest on loans which was illegal (Lev 25:36-37; Deut 23:19-20), but also seizing pledges as collateral (Neh 5:3) which was allowed (Deut 24:10). When the debtors missed a payment, the moneylenders would seize their collateral: their fields, vineyards and homes. With no other means of income, the debtors were forced to sell their children into slavery, a common practice at this time (Neh 5:5). Nehemiah himself was one of the moneylenders (Neh 5:10) but he insisted that seizure of collateral from fellow Jewish countrymen was ethically wrong (Neh 5:9).
⁹tn Heb “words.”
¹⁰tn Heb “my heart was advised upon me.”
¹¹tn Heb “nobles.”
¹²tn Heb “taking a creditor’s debt.” The Hebrew noun aVm m^V*a means “interest; debt” and probably refers to the collateral (pledge) collected by a creditor (HALOT 2:641). This particular noun form appears only in Nehemiah (5:7, 10; 10:32); however, it is related to haVm (m^V*a*h, “contractual loan; debt; collateral”) which appears elsewhere (Deut 24:10; Prov 22:26; cf. Neh 5:11). See HALOT 2:642 and the note on the word “people” at the end of v. 5. The BHS editors suggest emending the MT to acm (m^c*a, “burden”), following several medieval Hebrew MSS; however, the result is not entirely clear: “you are bearing a burden, a man with his brothers.”
¹³tn Heb “his brothers.”
¹⁴tn Heb “I gave.”
¹⁵tn Heb “our brothers, the Jews.”
¹⁶tn Heb “your brothers.”
¹⁷tc The translation reads with the Qere and the ancient versions rmaw wa’omar (“and I said”) rather than the MT Kethib, rmaYw (wayyomer, “and he said”).
¹⁸tn Heb “not good.” The statement “The thing…is not good” is an example of tapeinosis, a figurative expression which emphasizes the intended point (“The thing…is wrong!”) by negating its opposite.
¹⁹tn Heb “[should you not] walk.”
²⁰tn Heb “brothers.”
²¹tn Heb “lads.”
²²tn Heb “this debt.” This expression is a metonymy of association: “debt” refers to the seizure of the collateral of the debt.
²³tc The MT reads tamW (ume’at, “and the hundredth”) which is somewhat enigmatic. The BHS editors suggest emending to taVmW (umassa’t, “and the debt”) which refers to the interest or collateral (pledge) seized by a creditor (Deut 24:10; Prov 22:26; see HALOT 2:642). The term taVm (massa’t) is related to the noun aVm (massa’, “debt”) in 5:7, 10.
²⁴tn The words “these things” are not included in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
²⁵tn Heb “according to this word.”
²⁶tn Heb “my bosom.”
²⁷tn Heb “cause to stand.”
²⁸tn Heb “according to this word.”
²⁹tc The BHS editors suggest reading ytaWx (suwwe’ti, “and I was appointed”) rather than the reading of the MT, yta hWx (siwwah ‘oti, “he appointed me”).
³⁰tc The translation reads with one medieval Hebrew MS hjP (pehah, “governor”) rather than <jP (peham, “their governor”) of the MT. One would expect the form with pronominal suffix to have a tav before the suffix.
³¹tn Heb “brothers.”
³²tn Heb “the food of the governor.” Cf. v. 18.
³³tc The Hebrew term rja (‘ahar) is difficult here. It normally means “after,” but that makes no sense here. Some scholars emend it to dja (‘ehad) and supply the word “day,” which yields the sense “daily.”
³⁴tn Heb “we did not purchase.”
³⁵tn Heb “who were gathered around us at my table.”