Then there arose a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews.
For there were that said, We, our sons and our daughters, are many: let us get grain, that we may eat and live.
Some also there were that said, We are mortgaging our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses: let us get grain, because of the dearth.
There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute upon our fields and our vineyards.
Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought into bondage already: neither is it in our power to help it; for other men have our fields and our vineyards.
And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words.
Then I consulted with myself, and contended with the nobles and the {Or, deputies}rulers, and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother. And I held a great assembly against them.
And I said unto them, We after our ability have {Hebrew: bought.}redeemed our brethren the Jews, that were sold unto the nations; and would ye even sell your brethren, and should they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found never a word.
Also I said, The thing that ye do is not good: ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the nations our enemies?
And I likewise, my brethren and my servants, do lend them money and grain. I pray you, let us leave off this usury.
Restore, I pray you, to them, even this day, their fields, their vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and of the grain, the new wine, and the oil, that ye exact of them.
Then said they, We will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so will we do, even as thou sayest. Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they would do according to this promise.
Also I shook out my lap, and said, So God shake out every man from his house, and from his labor, that performeth not this promise; even thus be he shaken out, and emptied. And all the assembly said, Amen, and praised Jehovah. And the people did according to this promise.
Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even unto the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that is, twelve years, I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the governor.
But the former governors that were before me {Or, laid burdens upon}were chargeable unto the people, and took of them bread and wine, {Or, at the rate of Or, afterward}besides forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants {Or, lorded over}bare rule over the people: but so did not I, because of the fear of God.
Yea, also I {Hebrew: held fast to.}continued in the work of this wall, neither bought we any land: and all my servants were gathered thither unto the work.
Moreover there were at my table, of the Jews and the {Or, deputies}rulers, a hundred and fifty men, besides those that came unto us from among the nations that were round about us.
Now that which was prepared for one day was one ox and six choice sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days store of all sorts of wine: yet for all this I demanded not the bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavy upon this people.
Remember unto me, O my God, for good, all that I have done for this people.
Querverweise zu Nehemia 5,5 Neh 5,5
Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother, our flesh. And his brethren hearkened unto him.
Now these are the ordinances which thou shalt set before them.
If thou buy a Hebrew {Or, bondman}servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.
If he come in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he be married, then his wife shall go out with him.
If his master give him a wife and she bear him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself.
But if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:
then his master shall bring him unto {Or, the judges}God, and shall bring him to the door, or unto the door-post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever.
And if a man sell his daughter to be a {Or, bondwoman}maid-servant, she shall not go out as the men-servants do.
If she please not her master, {Another reading is, so that he hath not espoused her.}who hath espoused her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a foreign people he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her.
And if he espouse her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters.
If he take him another wife; her {Hebrew: flesh.}food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.
And if he do not these three things unto her, then shall she go out for nothing, without money.
Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
And if thy brother be waxed poor with thee, and sell himself unto thee; thou shalt not make him to serve as a bond-servant.
As a hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee; he shall serve with thee unto the year of jubilee:
then shall he go out from thee, he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return.
For they are my servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as bondmen.
Thou shalt not rule over him with rigor, but shalt fear thy God.
Hearken, my beloved brethren; did not God choose them that are poor as to the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to them that love him?
Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear Jehovah: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two children to be bondmen.
But ye have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you, and themselves drag you before the judgment-seats?
But forasmuch as he had not wherewith to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.