Nehemiah 5:4

Still others were saying, “We have borrowed money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — "Still others" address the leadership during a famine crisis, immediately after a different group reports mortgaging property for grain.

The words — לָוִינוּ (la.Vi.nu) translates literally as "we have borrowed," and מִדַּ֣ת (mi.Dat) means "tribute" or "tax."

The thread — The strain of royal taxation runs through Ezra 4:13 and Ezra 4:20, while the broader covenant failure regarding abundance is recorded in Deuteronomy 28:47.

Why it lands — The text states that ordinary families borrowed funds specifically for state levies, which forces a reader to confront how legal obligations can drive debt and slavery, demanding concrete restitution rather than abstract sympathy.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וְיֵשׁ֙ve./Yeshand/ there אֲשֶׁ֣ר'a.Sher[were those] who אֹמְרִ֔ים'o.me.Rim[were] saying לָוִ֥ינוּla.Vi.nuwe have borrowed כֶ֖סֶףKhe.sefmoney לְמִדַּ֣תle./mi.Datfor/ [the] tribute of הַמֶּ֑לֶךְha./Me.lekhthe/ king שְׂדֹתֵ֖ינוּse.do.Tei./nufields/ our וּכְרָמֵֽינוּ׃u./khe.ra.Mei./nuand/ vineyards/ our

King James Version

There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards.

Cross-references

Ezra 4:13 Let it now be known to the king that if that city is rebuilt and its walls are restored, they will not pay tribute, duty, or toll, and the royal treasury will suffer.
Ezra 4:20 And mighty kings have ruled over Jerusalem and exercised authority over the whole region west of the Euphrates; and tribute, duty, and toll were paid to them.
Deuteronomy 28:47 Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart in all your abundance,
Joshua 16:10 But they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer. So the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites to this day, but they are forced laborers.
1 Kings 9:21 their descendants who remained in the land, those whom the Israelites were unable to devote to destruction—Solomon conscripted these people to be forced laborers, as they are to this day.
Ezra 7:24 And be advised that you have no authority to impose tribute, duty, or toll on any of the priests, Levites, singers, doorkeepers, temple servants, or other servants of this house of God.
Nehemiah 9:37 Its abundant harvest goes to the kings You have set over us because of our sins. And they rule over our bodies and our livestock as they please. We are in great distress.