Nehemiah 5:3

Some also The complaint in this verse is that among the poorer classes, those who had a little property were compelled to mortgage it in order to obtain the bare necessaries of life.

Wehave mortgaged R.V. We are mortgaging. The Hebrew verb expresses a state of things going on at the time.

our lands, vineyards, and houses R.V. our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses. -Fields" is better than -lands," which is too large and general a word. The three words refer to the corn-fields, vineyards, and dwellings, such as the poorer householders might possess.

For the tenacity with which the possession of house or land was retained in a family, cf. 1 Kings 21. In the Hebrew these three words stand emphatically at the head of the sentence corresponding to -our sons and our daughters" in the previous verse.

that we might buy corn R.V. let us get corn. The words are the same as in the previous verse. They express not the purpose of the mortgage, but the resolve of the people to obtain food. By mortgaging their property they had lost the little capital they had. They had not the means to pay the interest on the mortgage as well as to obtain food for their families. The prospect before them was the final loss of property and starvation.

because of the dearth This might be rendered -in the famine." But the sense is hardly different. It was necessary to obtain food in the time of scarcity because of the dearth. Cf. -through the famine," Genesis 41:36.