Nehemiah 5:14-19
Nehemiah as Governor
14Moreover, from the day that I was put in command to be their governor in the land of Judah, from athe twentieth year to the bthirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, for twelve years, neither I nor my 1relatives have eaten the governor’s food allowance. 15But the former governors who were before me 1laid heavy burdens on the people and took from them bread and wine besides forty 2shekels of silver; even their young men exerted their power over the people. But I did not do so abecause of the fear of God. 16I also took hold of the work on this wall; we did not buy any land, and all my young men were gathered there for the work. 17Moreover, athere were at my table 150 Jews and officials, besides those who came to us from the nations that were around us. 18Now athat which was prepared for each day was one ox and six choice sheep, also birds were prepared for me; and once in ten days all sorts of wine were furnished in abundance. Yet for all this bI did not require the governor’s food allowance, because the slavery was heavy on this people. 19aRemember me, O my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.