Nehemiah 5:11

Neh 5:11 Restore, I pray you, to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses, also the hundredth [part] of the money, and of the corn, the wine, and the oil, that ye exact of them.

Ver. 11. Restore, I pray you, to them, even this day] While you are in a melting temper, and in a good mind, make restitution. Say not, This is a hard saying, who can brook it? But say rather, as the civilian saith, Perquam durum est; sed ita lex scripta est, ‘Tis hard to be done, but the law will have it so done; Aut faciendam, aut patiendum (Ulpian.). Either we must do it, or do worse. The law for restitution, see Lev 6:1; Lev 6:4 Num 5:6-7, &c. The wrong-doer must not only confess, but restore. The transgression was against God, but the trespass against man; and he must be satisfied, if the sin shall be pardoned. Samuel proffered to restore, if it might appear that he had wronged any, 1Sa 12:3. Micah, though an idolater did so, Jdg 17:2-3. So did Queen Mary she restored again all ecclesiastical livings asstoned to the crown. Her grandfather, Henry VII, in his last will and testament, devised and willed restitution should be forthwith made of all such monies as had been unjustly levied by the officers. Selimus, the Great Turk, did the like upon his death bed; so great is the force of natural conscience. Gravel in the kidneys will not grate so much as a little guilt in this kind. Restore your evil gotten goods, saith father Latimer, or else you will cough in hell, and the devils will laugh at you. He set this point so well home, that he wrought upon many; and particularly upon Master Bradford. Austin saith, that if a man be able to make actual restitution, and do it not, poenitentia non agitur, sed fingitur, his repentance is not right; if he have wasted all, and is not able to restore, he must desire pardon very humbly, and water the earth with his tears.

Also the hundredth part of the money] That is, all that they had received for interest, whether money, or else. It appeareth, by this text, that they took twelve in the hundred (for so much the hundredth part monthly amounteth to), as at this day in Italy, and elsewhere, the Jews are permitted to strain up their usury to eighteen in the hundred upon the Christian (for among themselves they now use it not), which causeth many of those Pseudo-Christians to use those Jews underhand, in improving their lawful rents to the utmost proportion. (Sandys’ Survey.)

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Neh 5:11. Restore their land, &c. — Give them up their mortgages, put them again in possession of their estates, remit the interest, and give them time to pay the principal. I pray you — Though he had authority to command, yet, for love’s sake, he rather beseeches. Also the hundredth part of the money — Require not this, as the next verse explains it, where it is expressed in their grant of this desire. The hundredth part of the money lent was wont to be required every month for the use of it, according to the custom then prevailing in those countries, and afterward adopted by the Romans. So that every year an eighth part of the principal was paid for interest, which was a very extravagant usury.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5:11 Nehemiah demanded that the rich lenders restore their fields and repay the interest (literally the hundredth part), which they should not have collected (see also Exod 22:25; Lev 25:35-37). The literal hundredth part suggests that the interest was one percent per month, lower than the twenty percent annual rate found in some documents of that time, or the sixty percent annual rate charged at Elephantine in Egypt. But even a relatively low rate of interest violated God’s covenant.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Which ye take of them for the loan.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 11. Also the hundredth part of the money] Houbigant contends,

1. That the word מאת meath, which we and the Vulgate translate one hundredth part, never means so anywhere; and

2. That it would have answered no end to have remitted to people so distressed merely the one hundredth part of the money which had been taken from them by usury.

He understands מאת meath as signifying the same as מן את min eth, contracted into מאת meeth, a preposition and demonstrative particle joined together, also a part FROM THE money. Neither the Syriac, Septuagint, nor Arabic acknowledges this hundredth part. Some think that the hundredth part is that which they obliged the poor debtors to pay each month, which would amount to what we would call twelve per cent. interest for the money lent, or the debt contracted. See the introduction.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(11) Also the hundredth part of the money.—The monthly payment of one per cent. per month, twelve per cent. in the year, they were required to give up for the future.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. Restore, I pray you, &c.] On ‘I pray you’ see note on Neh_5:10. Nehemiah demands immediate redress for the wrongs done to fellow-countrymen. He demands restoration of property and remission of interest on loans.

even this day] The same Hebrew word as is rendered in 1Sa_9:13, ‘at this time.’ Literally = ‘as if to-day,’ i.e. ‘immediately.’

their lands … houses] R.V. their fields … houses. The first part of the demand is the restoration to the poor of the property which had been offered as security for the sums borrowed from the money-lenders.

also the hundredth part, &c.] This ‘hundredth part’ was in all probability reckoned by month. It corresponded therefore to the Latin ‘centesima usura,’ and represented interest at the rate of 12 per cent.

corn, the wine, and the oil] This exorbitant rate of interest seems to have been exacted in kind if cash was not forthcoming.

The second part of Nehemiah’s demand refers to the exaction of interest. It is impossible to suppose that he required the moneylenders to restore the sums which had already been paid in interest. The main verb ‘restore’ is only by ‘zeugma’ applicable to ‘the hundredth part;’ and the meaning is ‘do not exact,’ ‘remit your claim to the 12 p. c. interest which you are accustomed to levy in money or produce of the land.’

His twofold demand, for immediate restoration of property and for future renunciation of interest, corresponds to the twofold reply of the money-lenders in the following verse. It is probable that we are only to understand Nehemiah’s intervention to be made in the interests of the poor. The transactions of the wealthy with one another are not contemplated by the early Israelite or the Levitical laws, Exo_22:25; Lev_25:36-37.

An ingenious conjecture, which alters the text by the insertion of one letter only, would read, instead of ‘the hundredth part’ (um’ath), ‘the usury’ (umash’ath). The latter part of the verse would then only expand in greater detail the substance of the first. The LXX. ἀπὸ follows a different pointing of the word.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then said they, we will restore them,.... The lands, vineyards, oliveyards, and houses:

and will require nothing of them; not the hundredth part of the fruits of the earth by way of salary:

so will we do as thou sayest; they approved of his proposal, and readily agreed to it:

then I called the priests, and took an oath of them that they should do according to this promise; not that the priests were delinquents, they were not charged with anything of this kind, nor were they the men that promised restitution; but the priests were called to administer the oath to the nobles, and rulers, and rich men, to oblige them the more to keep their word; an oath being sacred, priests in an holy office were made use of to give it, that it might be the more solemn, and the more strictly regarded.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The hundredth part of the money ... - i. e. the interest. It is conjectured that the 100th part was payable monthly, or, in other words, that interest was taken at the rate of twelve per cent. The Law altogether disallowed the taking of interest from Israelites (see Exo 22:25; Lev 25:36, etc.).

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

For them, to the Persian governors, ver. 14. (Haydock) --- Nehemias remits this pension, which was before paid by the people, and exacted by the rich. (Wolphius) --- Du Moulin asserts that there is no question of usury, which the Jews always abhorred, much less of that which the Romans called the 100th, (Calmet) consisting in the payment of 12 per cent, (Tirinus) or one every month. (Menochius) --- Hebrew, "Give back to them, " (Haydock) that they may enjoy those things.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Also the hundredth part of the money; also require not; which is to be supplied out of the next verse, where it is expressed in their answer to and grant of this desire. The hundredth part; which they required every month for the use of their monies or goods, according to the custom then used, and afterwards by the Romans.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

11. Restore… this day — Wrongs cannot be too speedily righted.

The hundredth part — This is commonly supposed to mean one per cent. paid monthly, thus corresponding with the Roman centesimae usurae, or twelve per cent. per annum. We know not what rate of interest was legal among the Jews. It is said that the laws of Menu allow eighteen and even twenty-four per cent. This hundredth part, which these usurers were required to restore, may have been only the excess of the legal rate.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Restore, I pray you, etc. Nay, more. Let us not only give up this practice in the future, but let us remedy its evils in the past. You are in possession of lands and houses that have become yours through these mortgages, and you have received a heavy interest on the sums of money, or on the corn, wine, and oil that you have advanced. I bid you restore it all. Give back at once the houses and the lands that you will in any case have to restore in the year of jubilee. Give back the interest that you have illegally taken, and so, as far as is possible, undo the past; make restitution of your ill-gotten gains, relinquish even your legal rights, and become self-denying patriots, instead of tyrants and oppressors.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Also - Also require not: which is to be supplied out of the next verse, where it is expressed in their grant of this desire. Hundredth part - Which they required every month for the use of their monies or goods, according to the custom then used.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

give back And you shall also do as I do, to relinquish all their debts to them.

and the hundred silver pieces and the large amount of money that they owe you with the corn and the wine, etc.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.