Nehemiah 5

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes Codex Leningradensis (1008).[6][lower-alpha 1]

There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^B; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; BHK: ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^S; 4th century), and Codex Alexandrinus (A; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^A; 5th century).[8]

Now there was a great outcry of the people and their wives against their fellow Jews.[13]

The Revised Version's opening word is "then",[14] which Ryle argues "rightly" connects this passage with the rebuilding of the walls.[12] The "outcry of the people", from Hebrew: צעקת העם, tsa-‘ă-qaṯ hā-‘ām,[15] is a cry of oppression against their own people, their Jewish neighbors; in contrast to the cry against Pharaoh, or the cry against enemies (cf. Exodus 14:10; 22:23), also ‘the cry to God for deliverance from injustice and abuse’ (Psalm 107:6, 19–20).[16]

And I said to them, "According to our ability, we have redeemed our Jewish brethren who were sold to the nations. Now indeed, will you even sell your brethren? Or should they be sold to us?" Then they were silenced and found nothing to say.[17]

This verse "apparently refers to what had been the merciful custom of [Nehemiah] and his countrymen when they were in exile, but possibly also to his action in Jerusalem since his arrival. The word for ‘redeemed’ here would be literally rendered 'acquired' or 'bought'."[12] In the Septuagint, the redemption of the enslaved Jews was secured εν ἑκούσίω ημών (en hekousiō hemōn), through our freewill offerings.[18] The word ἑκούσιον (hekousion) appears in St Paul's Letter to Philemon, where Paul seeks to ensure that Philemon's generosity is not secured "by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary".[19]

Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah (from the twentieth year even until the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes) twelve years had passed. And my companions and I had not eaten the governor's food allotment.[22]

Nehemiah's appointment took place in Nisan 444 BC (or 445 BC; the 20th year of Artaxerxes I), as recorded in Nehemiah 2:1, and he governed Judah for 12 years.[23] Therefore, the entire first section of the Book of Nehemiah (chapters 1–7) could be written after 432 BC (the 32nd year of Artaxerxes I), the year when Nehemiah returned to the Persian court from Jerusalem (Nehemiah 13:6).[23]

Indeed, I also continued the work on this wall, and we did not buy any land. All my servants were gathered there for the work.[24]

Ryle portrays Nehemiah and his friends as "too strenuously occupied (in rebuilding the walls) to interest themselves in the purchase of lands".[12] The Masoretic Text has the plural, we did not buy .... In the Septuagint and Vulgate, the text is singular, et agrum non emi,[25] as it is in the Revised Standard Version, I also held to the work on this wall, and acquired no land.[26]