Nehemiah 5:3
What does Nehemiah 5:3 mean?
A plain-English look at Nehemiah 5:3 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Nehemiah 5:3 means
Another group explains that, to obtain grain during the dearth, they have put up their fields, vineyards, and houses as collateral. The famine or shortage has forced them into risky decisions that jeopardize their long-term security. Land, which was both livelihood and inheritance, is being leveraged away to survive the present crisis. This verse shows how scarcity can trigger a debt spiral that entangles families, changing temporary hunger into lasting loss. It also implies that some with means were ready to take pledges from desperate neighbors. The problem is not only hunger but the unjust terms that threaten to strip God’s people of their God-given portion.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000Some also there were that said, We are mortgaging our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses: let us get grain, because of the dearth.
KJV
King James Version · 1611Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn, because of the dearth.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901Some also there were that said, We are mortgaging our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses: let us get grain, because of the dearth.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949And there were some who said, We are giving our fields and our vine-gardens and our houses for debt: let us get grain because we are in need.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862And there are who are saying, `Our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses, we are pledging, and we receive corn for the famine.'
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752And there were some that said: Let us mortgage our lands, and our vineyards, and our houses, and let us take corn because of the famine.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890And there were that said, We have had to pledge our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses, that we might procure corn in the dearth.
Context
After stating the need for food in verse 2, the narrative now reveals the cost people are paying to get it: mortgaging essential property. Verses 3 and 4 trace how food scarcity and imperial taxation combine to create crushing debt. This background makes the complaint of verse 5—children being sold into bondage—all the more tragic and urgent. The accumulating examples prepare the reader to understand why Nehemiah’s anger in verse 6 is not impulsive but warranted.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Genesis 47:15
And when the money was all spent 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 our money faileth.
- Leviticus 25:35
And if thy brother be waxed poor, and his hand fail with thee; then thou shalt uphold him: as a stranger and a sojourner shall he live with thee.
- Malachi 3:8
Will a man rob God? yet ye rob me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
- Deuteronomy 15:7
If there be with thee a poor man, one of thy brethren, within any of thy gates in thy land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand from thy poor brother;
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