Nehemiah 5:12

We will restore them, to wit, the lands and houses. Will require nothing of them, for the hundredth part. I called the priests; either,

1. As delinquents in that kind; or rather as witnesses, that the oath being taken before the priests, who acted in God's name and stead, the oath might make the more deep and durable impression upon their consciences. See Numbers 5:19 1 Kings 1:8,31,32. Took an oath of them; not of the priests last mentioned, for it doth not appear that any of them were guilty, and it is absurd to think that they only were guilty of this extortion, as they must be, if this them belongs to them only; but of all the persons who were before charged with this crime, Nehemiah 5:3,4, whether priests or others, as is evident from the text, and from the nature of the thing.