Restore, I pray you, to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and of the corn, the wine, and the oil, that ye exact of them.
Restore, I pray you, to them ... their lands, their vineyards ... also the hundredth part of the money ... the wine, and the oil, that ye exact of them. In the ancient Oriental kingdoms the hundredth was the rate of interest exigible; and, as this rate was paid not annually, but monthly, the debtor had to pay in the course of a year the eighth part of the principal. This was oppressive enough; but it was nothing to what was done for things lent during smaller periods, such as a week or a day. The lender, as Salmasius declares, was allowed to demand any rate of interest, however exorbitant, he could get. No wonder that Nehemiah inveighed against such excessive usury, especially in the circumstances of the returned exiles. The remonstrance was effectual. The conscience of the usurious oppressors could not resist the touching and powerful appeal; and, 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.