Chapter 5

Social and Economic Problems. ^1 (A)Then there rose a great outcry of the people and their wives against certain of their Jewish kindred.^{[a] 2} Some said: “We are forced to pawn our sons and daughters in order to get grain to eat that we may live.” ³ Others said: “We are forced to pawn our fields, our vineyards, and our houses, that we may have grain during the famine.” ⁴ Still others said: “To pay the king’s tax we have borrowed money on our fields and vineyards. ^5 (B)And though these are our own kindred, and our children are as good as theirs, we have had to reduce our sons and daughters to slavery, and violence has been done to some of our daughters! Yet we can do nothing about it, for our fields and vineyards belong to others.”

⁶ I was extremely angry when I heard the reasons for their complaint. ^7 (C)After some deliberation, I called the nobles and magistrates to account, saying to them, “You are exacting interest from your own kindred!”^[b] I then rebuked them severely, ^8 (D)saying to them: “As far as we were able, we bought back our Jewish kindred who had been sold to Gentiles; you, however, are selling your own kindred, to have them bought back by us.” They remained silent, for they could find no answer. ⁹ I continued: “What you are doing is not good. Should you not conduct yourselves out of fear of our God rather than fear of the reproach of our Gentile enemies? ¹⁰ I myself, my kindred, and my attendants have lent the people money and grain without charge. Let us put an end to this usury! ¹¹ Return to them this very day their fields, vineyards, olive groves, and houses, together with the interest on the money, the grain, the wine, and the oil that you have lent them.” ¹² They answered: “We will return everything and exact nothing further from them. We will do just what you ask.” Then I called for the priests to administer an oath to them that they would do as they had promised. ¹³ I shook out the folds of my garment, saying, “Thus may God shake from home and fortune every man who fails to keep this promise, and may he thus be shaken out and emptied!” And the whole assembly answered, “Amen,” and praised the Lord. Then the people did as they had promised.

Sabbath Observance. ^15 (A)In those days I perceived that people in Judah were treading the wine presses on the sabbath; that they were bringing in sheaves of grain, loading them on their donkeys, together with wine, grapes, figs, and every other kind of load, and bringing them to Jerusalem on the sabbath day. I warned them to sell none of these provisions. ¹⁶ In Jerusalem itself the Tyrians residing there were importing fish and every other kind of merchandise and selling it to the Judahites on the sabbath. ¹⁷ I reprimanded the nobles of Judah, demanding: “What is this evil thing you are doing, profaning the sabbath day? ¹⁸ Did not your ancestors act in this same way, with the result that our God has brought all this evil upon us and upon this city? Would you add to the wrath against Israel by once more profaning the sabbath?”

¹⁹ When the shadows were falling on the gates of Jerusalem before the sabbath, I ordered the doors to be closed and prohibited their reopening until after the sabbath. I posted some of my own people at the gates so that no load might enter on the sabbath day. ²⁰ The merchants and sellers of various kinds of merchandise spent the night once or twice outside Jerusalem, ²¹ but then I warned them: “Why do you spend the night alongside the wall? If you keep this up, I will beat you!” From that time on, they did not return on the sabbath. ²² Then I ordered the Levites to purify themselves and to watch the gates, so that the sabbath day might be kept holy. This, too, remember in my favor, my God, and have mercy on me in accordance with your great mercy!

⁸ Remember the sabbath day—keep it holy.^[a]

^2 [a]Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, let the land, too, keep a sabbath for the Lord. ³ For six years you may sow your field, and for six years prune your vineyard, gathering in their produce.^{(A) 4} But during the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath of complete rest, a sabbath for the Lord,^(B) when you may neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. ⁵ The aftergrowth of your harvest you shall not reap, nor shall you pick the grapes of your untrimmed vines. It shall be a year of rest for the land. ⁶ While the land has its sabbath, all its produce will be food to eat for you yourself and for your male and female slave, for your laborer and the tenant who live with you, ⁷ and likewise for your livestock and for the wild animals on your land.