I and my brethren and my servants are lending them money and grain: Nehemiah included himself, his close kinsmen, and officials among those who were engaged in giving loans and should stop taking interest, but he did not mention that he had any involvement in taking property and forcing children into slavery to pay off debts. In Hebrew the syntax begins with the mention of Nehemiah himself in the first person and then the others in the third person. Translators should use the normal pattern of personal reference in their own language.

Lending in this context means to let someone else use one’s personal possession on the condition that they will return it with a payment of interest. Here Nehemiah and his relatives and officials were lending both money and grain. The text does not specify what kind of grain this was.

Let us leave off this interest probably refers to making loans against pledges. Similarly to Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible says “Let us cancel these pledges.” New English Bible renders it “Let us give up this taking of persons as pledges for debt.” For the whole verse New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “I, my brothers, and my servants also have claims of money and grain against them; let us now abandon those claims.” According to this translation, the creditors are renouncing their right to claim repayment, but they “are only deferring their rightful claims due to the crisis” (Gross).

Quoted with permission from Noss, Philip A. and Thomas, Kenneth J. A Handbook on Nehemiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2005. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .