Charles Ellicott Commentary Nehemiah 5:13

"Also I shook out my lap, and said, So God shake out every man from his house, and from his labor, that performeth not this promise; even thus be he shaken out, and emptied. And all the assembly said, Amen, and praised Jehovah. And the people did according to this promise." — Nehemiah 5:13 (ASV)

Shook my lap. — This symbolic act invoked on every man who broke this covenant an appropriate penalty: that he be emptied of all his possessions, just as the fold of Nehemiah’s garment was emptied. And it is noteworthy that the iniquity thus stopped is not referred to in the subsequent covenant (Nehemiah 10:0), nor is it one of the offenses which the governor found on his second return (Nehemiah 13:0).