Nehemiah Chapter 5 verse 6 Holy Bible
And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words.
read chapter 5 in ASV
And on hearing their outcry and what they said I was very angry.
read chapter 5 in BBE
And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words.
read chapter 5 in DARBY
And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words.
read chapter 5 in KJV
And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words.
read chapter 5 in WBT
I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words.
read chapter 5 in WEB
And it is very displeasing to me when I have heard their cry and these words,
read chapter 5 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 6. - I was very angry. It is not clear that the letter of the law was infringed, unless it were in the matter of taking interest (ver. 11), of which the people had not complained. That men might sell their daughters to be concubines or secondary wives is clear from Exodus 21:7; and it is therefore probable that they might sell their sons for servants. But the servitude might only be for six years (Exodus 21:2); and if a jubilee year occurred before the sexennial period was out, the service was ended (Leviticus 25:10). Land too might be either mortgaged or sold (ibid. vers. 14-16), but under the condition that it returned to the seller, or at any rate to his tribe, in the jubilee year (ibid. vers. 10, 13). The spirit, however, of the law - the command, "Ye shall not oppress one another" (ibid. vers. 14, 17) - was transgressed by the proceedings of the rich men. It was their duty in a time of scarcity not to press hard upon their poorer brethren, but freely to alleviate their necessities. Nehemiah, his near relations, and his followers had done so to the utmost of their power (ver. 10, with the comment). The rich men had acted differently, and made all the profit that they could out of the need of their fellow-countrymen. Hence Nehemiah's anger.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(6) And I was very angry.--Nehemiah, recently arrived, had not known this state of things. The common wailing and the three complaints in which it found expression are distinct.