We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses to get grain: The second group was composed of the peasants who owned land. They were having to borrow money to get grain and were mortgaging their property as collateral for loans. The fields were tilled to grow grain. The vineyards of Judea made it an important center for wine production.

Mortgaging is pledging property as a guarantee that one will repay a loan. Land was the only source of income for farmers in the subsistence economy of Judea. Documents from the Jewish community in Egypt at that time indicate that interest rates were from 60 percent to 75 percent. The payment made for using someone else’s money is called interest. If interest was not paid, the property could be taken away from the owners. Here they were in danger of losing their entire livelihood, their food, their wealth and their homes. Where the economic practice of mortgaging is unknown, something may be said like “We have to place our fields, our vineyards and our houses in the hands of others in return for food.”

Vineyards were fields where grapevines were planted. For a discussion of “wine” and the grapes from which it is made, see Ezra 6.9.

Famine is a period of time when there is a severe lack of food. This is often due to drought or another natural disaster that causes crops not to grow or not to produce adequate harvests. Famine may also be caused by war or other problems that make it impossible to plant crops or that destroys crops and therefore there is not enough food.

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 .