Nehemiah 5:2-4

Expanded Bible

² Some of them were saying, “We have many sons and daughters in our families. To eat and stay alive, we need grain [^CThis group may have owned no land that could provide them food.].”

³ Others were saying, “We are ·borrowing money [mortgaging; ^Cfrom their fellow Jews, which increased their frustration] against our fields, vineyards, and homes to get grain ·because there is not much food [during the famine].”

⁴ And still others were saying, “We are borrowing money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards.