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Nehemiah 5:8-10
New English Translation
Nehemiah 5:8-10
New English Translation
8 I said to them, “To the extent possible we have bought back our fellow Jews[a] who had been sold to the Gentiles. But now you yourselves want to sell your own countrymen,[b] so that we can then buy them back!” They were utterly silent, and could find nothing to say.
9 Then I[c] said, “The thing that you are doing is wrong![d] Should you not conduct yourselves[e] in the fear of our God in order to avoid the reproach of the Gentiles who are our enemies? 10 Even I and my relatives[f] and my associates[g] are lending them money and grain. But let us abandon this practice of seizing collateral![h]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Nehemiah 5:8 tn Heb “our brothers, the Jews.”
- Nehemiah 5:8 tn Heb “your brothers.”
- Nehemiah 5:9 tc The translation reads with the Qere and the ancient versions וָאוֹמַר (vaʾomar, “and I said”) rather than the MT Kethib, וַיֹּאמֶר (vayyoʾmer, “and he said”).
- Nehemiah 5:9 tn 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.
- Nehemiah 5:9 tn Heb “[should you not] walk.”
- Nehemiah 5:10 tn Heb “brothers.”
- Nehemiah 5:10 tn Heb “servants.”
- Nehemiah 5:10 tn Heb “this debt.” This expression is a metonymy of association: “debt” refers to the seizure of the collateral of the debt.
New English Translation (NET)
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