Nehemiah 5

1 [Later, ] many of the men and their wives protested loudly about what [some of] the [other] Jews were doing.

Ŋutsuwo kple wo srɔ̃wo tsitre ɖe wo nɔvi Yudatɔwo ŋu.

2 Some/One of them said, “We have many children. So we need a lot of grain to be able to eat and continue to live.”

Ɖewo le gbɔgblɔm be, “Míawo, mía viŋutsuwo kple mía vinyɔnuwo sɔ gbɔ ŋutɔ, gake be míakpɔ nu aɖu, atsi agbe la, ele na mí be míadi bli.”

3 Others said, “The fields and vineyards and houses that we own, it has been necessary for us to (mortgage them/promise to give them to someone if we do not pay back to him the money he has loaned us) in order to get money to buy grain, during this (famine/time where there is not much food).”

Bubuwo hã le gbɔgblɔm be, “Míetsɔ míaƒe agblewo, waingblewo kple míaƒe aƒewo ɖo awɔbae be míaxɔ bli le dɔŋɔli sia.”

4 Others said, “We have [needed to] borrow money to pay the taxes that the king [commanded us to pay] on our fields and our vineyards.

Ame bubuwo hã le gbɔgblɔm be, “Ele na mí be míado ga axe adzɔgae na fia la ɖe míaƒe agblewo kple waingblewo ta.”

5 We are Jews just like [IDM] they are. Our children are ([just as good as/equal with)] their children. But we have needed to sell some of our children to become slaves [in order to pay what we owe]. We have already sold some of our daughters to become slaves. Our fields and vineyards have been taken away from us, so now we do not have [the money to pay what we owe, and we are forced to sell our children to get money to pay those debts].”

Ame daheawo gblɔ be, “Wo nɔviwo míenye, eye mía viwo le ko abe woawo hã tɔwo ke ene. Ke ele be míadzra mía viŋutsuwo kple mía vinyɔnuwo hafi ate ŋu aɖu nu. Míedzra mía vinyɔnu aɖewo xoxo, eye míagate ŋu axɔ wo o, elabena míetsɔ míaƒe agblewo ɖo awɔbae na ame siawo ke!”

6 I was very angry when I heard these things that they were complaining about.

Esi mese nya sia la, medo dɔmedzoe vevie.

7 So I thought about what I could do about it. I told the leaders and officials [who were responsible for this work], “You are charging interest to your own relatives [when they borrow money from you]!” Then I called together a large group of people,

Esi mebu nu siawo katã ŋuti vɔ la, mebu fɔ bubumewo kple dɔnunɔlawo. Megblɔ na wo be, “Miele miawo ŋutɔ mia nɔviwo bam!” Ale meyɔ takpekpe gã aɖe na ame hahoawo ne maɖɔ nya sia ɖo.

8 and I said to their [leaders], “Some of our Jewish relatives have been forced to sell themselves to become slaves of people who have come from other countries. As much as we have been able to, we have been buying them back [out of slavery]. But now you are forcing your own relatives to sell themselves to you, their fellow Jews, as slaves!” [When I said that to them, ] they were silent. There was nothing that they could say [because they knew that what I said was true].

Meka mo na wo be, “Abe ale si ke ŋutete le mía si ene ko la, miegbugbɔ mía nɔvi Yudatɔ siwo wodzra ɖe dukɔ bubuwo me la ƒle. Ke azɔ la, miegale wo dzram ale be woagbugbɔ wo agadzra na mi!” Wo katã wozi ɖoɖoe, elabena womekpɔ nya aɖeke agblɔ o.

9 Then I said to them, “What you are doing is terrible [EUP]! You certainly ought to [RHQ] obey God and do what is right! If you did that, our enemies who do not revere Yahweh [would see that we are doing what is right and] would not ridicule us.

Meyi edzi gblɔ na wo be, “Nu si wɔm miele la nye nu vɔ̃. Ɖe miazɔ le mawuvɔvɔ̃ me oa? Ɖe futɔ, siwo le didim be yewoatsrɔ̃ mí la mesɔ gbɔ le mía ŋuti le dukɔ siwo ƒo xlã mí la me xoxo oa?

10 My fellow Jews and I and my servants have lent money and grain to people [without charging interest]. So you all should stop charging interest on these loans.

Mí ame bubuawo ya míele ga kple nuɖuɖu dom na mía nɔvi Yudatɔwo, eye míele deme aɖeke xɔm o. Meɖe kuku na mi, bubumewo, midzudzɔ amebaba sia tɔgbi!

11 Also, you must give back to them their fields, their vineyards, their olive tree orchards, and their houses that you have taken from them. You must also give back to them the interest that you charged them when they borrowed money, grain, wine, and [olive] oil from you, and you must do it today!”

Migbugbɔ ame daheawo ƒe agblewo, waingblewo, amitigblewo kple aƒewo na wo egbe sia, eye deme alafa ɖekalia si miexɔna ɖe ga, bli, wain yeye kple ami dzi la natɔ.”

12 The leaders replied, “We will do what you have said. We will return to them everything that we forced them to give to us, and we will not require that they give us anything more.” Then I summoned the priests, and I forced the leaders to vow in front of them that they would do what they had promised to do.

Wolɔ̃ ɖe nya sia dzi, eye wodo ŋugbe be yewoakpe ɖe yewo nɔviwo ŋuti, eye yewomagana be woatsɔ woƒe anyigbawo aɖo awɔba, eye woadzra wo viwo na amewo o. Ale meyɔ Osɔfowo, bubumewo kple dɔnunɔlawo, eye mena kesinɔtɔ siawo ɖe adzɔgbe be yewoawɔ yewoƒe ŋugbedodo dzi.

13 I shook out the folds of my robe and said to them, “If you do not do what you have just now promised to do, I hope/desire that God will shake you like I am shaking my robe. He will take away your homes and everything else that you own.” They all replied, “Amen/May it be so!” And they praised Yahweh. Then they did what they had promised to do.

Meʋuʋu nye awutoga hegblɔ na wo be, “Alea kee Mawu aʋuʋu ame sia ame si mawɔ ɖe ŋugbedodo sia dzi o la, ado goe le eya ŋutɔ ƒe aƒe me, hekpe ɖe eƒe nunɔamesiwo ŋu, eya ta nenem ƒe ame ma woatrɔe akɔ ɖi, eye woaɖi gbɔloe!” Esi megblɔ esia vɔ la, ame haho la katã xɔ ɖe edzi be, “Amen.” Wo katã wokafu Yehowa, eye ameawo wɔ abe ale si wodo ŋugbee ene.

14 I was appointed to be the governor of Judea in the twentieth year that Artaxerxes was the king [of Persia]. For the next twelve years, until he had been ruling for almost 32 years, neither I nor my officials accepted [the money that we were allowed/entitled to receive to buy] food because of my being the governor.

Le ƒe wuieve siwo me menye mɔmefia na Yuda, tso Artazerses ƒe fiaɖuɖu ƒe ƒe blaevelia me va se ɖe ƒe blaetɔ̃-vɔ-evelia me la, nye kple nye kpeɖeŋutɔwo siaa míexɔ fetu aɖeke alo kpekpeɖeŋu aɖeke tso Israelviwo gbɔ o.

15 The men who were governors before I became the governor had burdened the people by requiring them to pay a lot of taxes. They had forced each person to pay to them 40 silver coins every day, in addition to giving food and wine to them. Even their servants/officials oppressed the people. But I did not do that, because I revered God.

Esia to vovo sãa tso mɔmefia siwo do ŋgɔ nam la ƒe wɔnawo gbɔ. Woawo xɔa nuɖuɖu kple wain kple klosaloga blaene gbe sia gbe le dukɔa si. Wotsɔ ameawo de asi na woƒe kpeɖeŋutɔwo, eye wowɔa fu ameawo. Ke nye la, mevɔ̃a Mawu, eye nyemewɔ nenema o.

16 I also continued to work on the wall, and I did not take land from people [who were unable to pay back the money that they had borrowed from me]. All those who worked for me joined me to work on the wall.

Mekpe asi ɖe gli la ɖoɖo ŋu, eye nyemedi anyigba aɖeke be maƒle na ɖokuinye o. Mena nye kpeɖeŋutɔwo hã kpe asi ɖe gli la ɖoɖo ŋu.

17 Also, every day I was responsible to feed 150 Jewish officials, and also [official] visitors who came from nearby countries.

Mewɔ esiawo katã togbɔ be menaa nuɖuɖu Yudatɔ alafa ɖeka kple blaatɔ̃ gbe sia gbe kpe ɖe amedzro siwo tsoa anyigba bubuwo dzi ŋu hã.

18 Each day I [told my servants to] serve [us the meat from] one ox, six very good sheep, and chickens. And every ten days I gave them a large new supply of wine. But I knew that the people were burdened [by paying lots of taxes], so I did not accept [the money that I was entitled/allowed to receive to buy all this] food because of my being the governor.

Nu siwo mehiãna gbe sia gbe la woe nye nyitsu ɖeka, alẽ dami ade kple koklo geɖewo, eye le ŋkeke ewo ɖe sia ɖe me la, mehiãa wain lita geɖe. Ke nyemeda nudzɔdzɔ tɔxɛ ɖe ameawo dzi o, elabena nuwo nɔ sesẽm na wo xoxo.

19 My God, do not forget me, and reward me because of all that I have done for these people.

O! Nye Mawu, ɖo ŋku nu siwo katã mewɔ na ame siawo la dzi, eye nàyram ɖe wo ta.