Bible Strands
Nehemiah 5:8
and said, “We have done our best to buy back our Jewish brothers who were sold to foreigners, but now you are selling your own brothers, that they may be sold back to us!” But they remained silent, for they could find nothing to say.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Nehemiah confronts the nobles and officials before a summoned assembly, immediately following his initial rebuke for exacting usury. He highlights his own past efforts to redeem Jewish captives while accusing them of exploiting their own people.
The words — The text centers on קָ֠נִינוּ (Ka.ni.nu), meaning "we have bought," and הַ/נִּמְכָּרִ֤ים (ha./nim.ka.Rim), meaning "who sold themselves." These terms record Nehemiah's direct claim of having purchased back his countrymen and specify that the enslaved Jews initially sold themselves to foreign nations.
The thread — The charge of exploiting kin aligns with the redemption laws in Leviticus 25:47 and the capital prohibitions against kidnapping Israelites in Exodus 21:16 and Deuteronomy 24:7. The narrative applies these statutes to show the nobles' actions violate established covenant boundaries.
Why it lands — The narrative records the nobles' silence because they lacked a valid defense against the charge. The text requires readers to see that covenant leadership demands economic practices that protect, rather than exploit, the community.
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
King James Version
And I said unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; and will ye even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found nothing to answer.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 25:47 If a foreigner residing among you prospers, but your countryman dwelling near him becomes destitute and sells himself to the foreigner or to a member of his clan,
- Exodus 21:16 Whoever kidnaps another man must be put to death, whether he sells him or the man is found in his possession.
- Deuteronomy 24:7 If a man is caught kidnapping one of his Israelite brothers, whether he treats him as a slave or sells him, the kidnapper must die. So you must purge the evil from among you.
- Job 29:10 The voices of the nobles were hushed, and their tongues stuck to the roofs of their mouths.
- Job 32:15 Job’s friends are dismayed, with no more to say; words have escaped them.
- Matthew 22:12 ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But the man was speechless.
- Matthew 25:15 To one he gave five talents, to another two talents, and to another one talent—each according to his own ability. And he went on his journey.
- Matthew 25:29 For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. But the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.
- Romans 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.
- Romans 14:15 If your brother is distressed by what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother, for whom Christ died.