H4060b H4060b
tax, tribute, royal levy
A noun meaning tax or tribute, appearing in Nehemiah 5:4. This is a loanword from Assyrian 'mandattu' (tribute), ultimately from the root meaning 'to give.' The context is Jews borrowing money 'for the king's tax'—the Persian imperial levy imposed on the province. This financial burden, combined with drought and debt, created severe economic hardship for the returned exiles. The term emphasizes the obligatory nature of this payment to foreign overlords.
Senses
1. sense 1 — Tax, tribute imposed by the Persian king. Nehemiah 5:4 records people borrowing money 'for the king's tax,' showing the economic strain of imperial levies on poor Jews. This loanword from Assyrian 'mandattu' indicates tribute or tax. The Spanish 'para-tributo-de' (for tribute of) captures the obligatory payment. The multilingual glosses (tax-of, tributo-de) emphasize this as revenue owed to Persian authorities, adding to the community's distress. 1×
AR["لِ-ضَريبَةِ"]·ben["-করের-জন্য"]·DE["[למדת]"]·EN["for-tax-of"]·FR["[למדת]"]·heb["ל-מדת"]·HI["कर-के-लिए"]·ID["untuk-pajak"]·IT["[למדת]"]·jav["kangge-pajeg"]·KO["~의-세금-을-위하여"]·PT["para-tributo-de"]·RU["для-подати"]·ES["para-tributo-de"]·SW["kwa-ushuru-wa"]·TR["vergisi-için"]·urd["محصول-کے-لیے"]
Related Senses
H3808 1. simple negation (not) (4839×)G1722 1. locative: in, within (2442×)H1004b 1. house, dwelling, building (2015×)G3756 1. not (negation particle) (1635×)H4480a 1. source or separation (1198×)H5892b 1. city, town (1093×)G1519 1. direction: into, to, toward (1061×)H3427 1. Qal: to dwell, inhabit (937×)G1537 1. from, out of (source/origin) (886×)H8034 1. Name (designation / identifier) (856×)G3361 1. subjective negation (not) (834×)G1909 1. on, upon (spatial surface) (757×)H0369 1. existential negation: there is not (738×)H5869a 1. in the eyes/sight of (evaluative) (734×)H5650 1. Servant, attendant, subject (723×)H0408 1. prohibitive negation do-not (712×)G2443 1. so that, in order that (purpose/result) (665×)G0575 1. from (649×)G1223 1. through, by means of (582×)H3541 1. thus, so, in this manner (569×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† II. מִדָּה n.f. tribute (loan-word from Assyrian mandattu, id., √ nadânu = נָתַן DlHWB 451, cf. SchrCOT Ezr 4; 13; also in Biblical Aramaic מִנְדָּה, מִדָּה id.);—מִדַּת הַמֶּלֶךְ Ne 5:4.