Nehemiah 5:2

2 For there were some that said, We, our sons, and our daughters, are many; therefore we have bought grain that we may eat and live.

Nehemiah 5:2 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 5:2

For there were that said, we, our sons, and our daughters, are
many
Not that they complained of the number of their children, for a numerous offspring was always reckoned a blessing with the Jews; but this they observed to show that their families, being large, required a considerable quantity of food to support them:

therefore we take up corn for them, that we may eat and live;
that is, they were obliged to take it at an exorbitant price, which is the thing complained of; or otherwise they must starve, the rich taking the advantage of their poverty and present dearth.

Nehemiah 5:2 In-Context

1 Then there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren, the Jews.

2 For there were some that said, We, our sons, and our daughters, are many; therefore we have bought grain that we may eat and live.

3 There were also some that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy grain because of the famine.

4 And there were some that said, We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards.

5 Yet now, given that the flesh of our brethren is as our flesh and their sons as our sons, behold, we subject our sons and our daughters to slavery, and there are some of our daughters in bondage already; neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards.