Nehemiah 5:3-5

Good News Translation

³ Others said, “We have had to mortgage our fields and vineyards and houses to get enough grain to keep us from starving.”

⁴ Still others said, “We had to borrow money to pay the royal tax on our fields and vineyards. ⁵ We are of the same race as the other Jews. Aren't our children just as good as theirs? But we have to make slaves of our children. Some of our daughters have already been sold as slaves. We are helpless because our fields and vineyards have been taken away from us.”