Charles Ellicott Commentary Nehemiah 5:7

"Then I consulted with myself, and contended with the nobles and the rulers, and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother. And I held a great assembly against them." — Nehemiah 5:7 (ASV)

I consulted. —But he mastered himself, and studied his plan of operation. The matter was complicated, as the transgressors had violated the spirit rather than the letter of the law. Hence the rebuke, that they exacted usury each from his brother, failed in its objective; and the governor called a general assembly, not “against them,” but “concerning them.”