9 So I continued speaking. I said, “What you people are doing is not right! You know that you should fear and respect our God. You should not do the shameful things other people do!
10 My men, my brothers, and I are also lending money and grain to the people. But let’s stop forcing them to pay interest on these loans.
11 You must give their fields, vineyards, olive fields, and houses back to them, right now! And you must give back the interest you charged them. You charged them one percent for the money, grain, new wine, and oil that you loaned them.”
12 Then the rich people and the officials said, “We will give it back and not demand anything more from them. Nehemiah, we will do as you say.” Then I called the priests. I made the rich people and the officials promise to God that they would do what they said.
13 Then I shook out the folds of my clothes. I said, “God will do the same thing to everyone who does not keep their promise. God will shake them out of their houses and they will lose everything they worked for. They will lose everything!” I finished saying these things and all the people agreed. They all said, “Amen” and praised the Lord. So the people did as they had promised.
14 And also, during the whole time that I was appointed to be governor in the land of Judah, neither my brothers nor I ate the food that was allowed for the governor. I never forced the people to pay taxes to buy my food. I was governor from the 20th year until the 32nd year that Artaxerxes was king. I was governor of Judah for twelve years.
15 But the governors who ruled before me made life hard for the people. The governors forced everyone to pay 1 pound of silver. They also made the people give them food and wine. The leaders under these governors also ruled over the people and made life even harder. But I respected and feared God, so I didn’t do things like that.