1
Ne 5:1-5.
英語原文
Ne 5:1-5.
THE PEOPLE COMPLAIN OF THEIR DEBT, MORTGAGE, AND BONDAGE.
1-5. there was a great cry of the people . . . against their brethren--Such a crisis in the condition of the Jews in Jerusalem--fatigued with hard labor and harassed by the machinations of restless enemies, the majority of them poor, and the bright visions which hope had painted of pure happiness on their return to the land of their fathers being unrealized--must have been very trying to their faith and patience. But, in addition to these vexatious oppressions, many began to sink under a new and more grievous evil. The poor made loud complaints against the rich for taking advantage of their necessities, and grinding them by usurious exactions. Many of them had, in consequence of these oppressions, been driven to such extremities that they had to mortgage their lands and houses to enable them to pay the taxes to the Persian government, and ultimately even to sell their children for slaves to procure the means of subsistence. The condition of the poorer inhabitants was indeed deplorable; for, besides the deficient harvests caused by the great rains
(Ezr 10:9;
also
Hag 1:6-11),
a dearth was now threatened by the enemy keeping such a multitude pent up in the city, and preventing the country people bringing in provisions.
6
Ne 5:6-19.
ネヘ 5:6-19.
高利貸したちが責められる。
6-12. 私が彼らの叫びとこれらのことばを聞いたとき、非常に怒った--このような紊乱が総督の知るところとなると、彼は悪を行った者たちに対して正しい憤りを起こした。公の集会を召集し、正当に厳しい言葉で彼らの行いを非難した。彼は、借金その他の理由でバビロンにおいて個人の自由を失っていたユダヤの捕囚の民の一部を自分の金で贖った自分自身の行いと対比させた。彼は富んだ債権者たちに、不法で抑圧的な高利の制度を放棝するだけでなく、貧しい人々の畑とぶどう園を返還するよう促した。その悪の導入がすでに多くの実際の紊乱をもたらし、その継続がヘブルの体制の根本原則に背くことによって新たに回復された植民地に必然的に破滅をもたらすからであった。この抗議は効果があった。高利で圧迫していた者たちの良心は、感動的で力強い訴えに抗し得なかった。彼らは恥と悔いと恐れの入り混じった感情をもって、異口同音に総督の勧告に従う用意があると表明した。手続きは、祭司たちが執り行う荘厳な誓いによって当事者たちが自分の約束を果たすことを自ら縛り、総督が自分の衣のすそを揺るがす荘厳で意味深な身振りによって、それに背く者たちにのろいが臨むよう祈ることによって締めくくられた。民がこの約束通りに行ったことを歴史家が記録していることは細やかな配慮である。
英語原文
Ne 5:6-19.
THE USURERS REBUKED.
6-12. I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words--When such disorders came to the knowledge of the governor, his honest indignation was roused against the perpetrators of the evil. Having summoned a public assembly, he denounced their conduct in terms of just severity. He contrasted it with his own in redeeming with his money some of the Jewish exiles who, through debt or otherwise, had lost their personal liberty in Babylon. He urged the rich creditors not only to abandon their illegal and oppressive system of usury, but to restore the fields and vineyards of the poor, so that a remedy might be put to an evil the introduction of which had led to much actual disorder, and the continuance of which would inevitably prove ruinous to the newly restored colony, by violating the fundamental principles of the Hebrew constitution. The remonstrance was effectual. The conscience of the usurious oppressors could not resist the touching and powerful appeal. With mingled emotions of shame, contrition, and fear, they with one voice expressed their readiness to comply with the governor's recommendation. The proceedings were closed by the parties binding themselves by a solemn oath, administered by the priests, that they would redeem their pledge, as well as by the governor invoking, by the solemn and significant gesture of shaking a corner of his garment, a malediction on those who should violate it. The historian has taken care to record that the people did according to this promise.
14
無題
14. また私が……任命された時から、私と私の兄弟たちは総督のパンを食べなかった--私たちはネヘミヤの富と無私心の両方の顕著なしるしを持つ。彼が良心上の理由から、その統治に付随する合法的な報酬を受け入れることを辞退しながらも、十二年間自分の資産から王子のようなもてなしの様式を維持したことは、シュシャンの宮廷での給侍役の職が非常に利益の大きいものであったに違いないことを示す。
英語原文
14. Moreover from the time that I was appointed . . . I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the governor--We have a remarkable proof both of the opulence and the disinterestedness of Nehemiah. As he declined, on conscientious grounds, to accept the lawful emoluments attached to his government, and yet maintained a style of princely hospitality for twelve years out of his own resources, it is evident that his office of cup-bearer at the court of Shushan must have been very lucrative.
15
無題
15. 前の総督たちは……パンとぶどう酒、そのほか銀四十シェケルを取った--東洋の総督の収入は一部は農産物で、一部は金銭で支払われる。「パン」はあらゆる種類の食糧を意味する。一日あたり銀四十シェケルは、年俸にして1,800ポンド・スターリングに達する。
英語原文
15. the former governors . . . had taken . . . bread and wine, besides forty shekels of silver--The income of Eastern governors is paid partly in produce, partly in money. "Bread" means all sorts of provision. The forty shekels of silver per day would amount to a yearly salary of £1800 sterling.
17
無題
17. また私の食卓にはユダヤ人百五十人がいた--東洋では、王や貴族の家計の費用を、支出された金額ではなく、消費された食糧の量によって計算するのが常に習慣であった（王上 4:22; 18:19; 伝 5:11を見よ）。
英語原文
17. Moreover there were at my table an hundred and fifty of the Jews--In the East it has been always customary to calculate the expense of a king's or grandee's establishment, not by the amount of money disbursed, but by the quantity of provisions consumed (see
1Ki 4:22; 18:19; Ec 5:11).
ネヘ 5:1-5.
民が負債、抵当、隷従について訴える。
1-5. 民とその妻たちがその兄弟ユダヤ人に対して大声で叫ぶ大いなる訴えがあった--エルサレムのユダヤ人におけるこのような危機は--激しい労働に疲れ、休むことのない敵たちの計略に悩まされ、その大部分が貧しく、祖先の地に帰還したとき希望が描いた純粋な幸福の明るい幻が実現されなかった--彼らの信仰と忍耐に大いなる試練であったに違いない。しかしこれらの煩わしい圧迫に加えて、多くの者が新たな、より重大な悪の下に沈み込み始めた。貧しい者たちは、富める者たちが自分たちの窮乏につけ込み、高利の取り立てで搾取していると大声で訴えた。これらの圧迫の結果、彼らの多くは極限状態に追いやられ、ペルシャ政府に税を納めるために土地や家を抵当に入れなければならず、ついには生活の糧を得るために子どもたちを奴隷として売ることになった。貧しい住民たちの状態は実に哀れなものであった。大雨による不作(エズ 10:9; またハガイ書 1:6-11)だけでなく、敵がこれほど大勢を都に閉じ込め、田舎の人々が食糧を持ち込むのを妨げたため、今や飢饉が脅かされていたからである。