Nehemiah 5:14-19

¹⁴Furthermore, since the day that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, for twelve years, neither I nor my kinsmen have eaten the governor’s food allowance. ¹⁵But the previous governors who were before me laid burdens on the people and took from them bread and wine besides forty shekels of silver; even their servants domineered the people. But I did not do so because of my fear of God. ¹⁶I also applied myself to the work on this wall; we did not buy any land, and all my servants were gathered there for the work. ¹⁷Moreover, there were at my table 150 Jews and officials, besides those who came to us from the nations that were around us. ¹⁸Now that which was prepared for each day was one ox and six choice sheep; also birds were prepared for me, and every ten days all sorts of wine were provided in abundance. Yet for all this I did not request the governor’s food allowance, because the forced labor was heavy on this people. ¹⁹Remember me, my God, for good, in return for all that I have done for this people.