Nehemiah 13

¹ On that day the Book of Moses was read aloud for the people to hear, and it was found written in it that the Ammonites and Moabites were never to enter the assembly of God.

² For they had not come out to meet the Israelites with bread and water, but had hired Balaam to curse them. Yet our God turned the curse into a blessing.

³ When they heard the Law, they separated everyone of mixed ancestry from Israel.

⁴ Before this, Eliashib the priest, who had been put in charge of the rooms in the house of our God, was related to Tobiah.

⁵ He had prepared a large room for Tobiah. It had formerly held the grain offerings, the incense, the utensils, and the tithes of grain, new wine, and oil—the provisions assigned to the Levites, the singers, and the gatekeepers, along with the contributions for the priests.

⁶ While all this was happening, I was not in Jerusalem, because in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes, king of Babylon, I had gone to the king. After some time, I asked the king for leave.

⁷ I returned to Jerusalem and learned of the wrong Eliashib had done for Tobiah by preparing a room for him in the courtyards of the house of God.

⁸ This displeased me greatly, and I threw all of Tobiah’s household furnishings out of the room.

⁹ I gave the order, and they purified the rooms. Then I returned the utensils of the house of God, the grain offering, and the incense to their place.

¹⁰ I also learned that the portions for the Levites had not been given to them, so the Levites and singers who did the work had gone away, each to his own field.

¹¹ So I confronted the officials and said, “Why has the house of God been abandoned?” Then I gathered them together and restored them to their posts.

¹² All Judah then brought the tithes of grain, new wine, and oil into the storehouses.

¹³ I appointed as treasurers over the storehouses Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah, one of the Levites. Beside them I appointed Hanan son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, because they were considered trustworthy. They were responsible for distributing the supplies to their fellow Levites.

¹⁴ Remember me for this, my God, and do not erase the faithful deeds I have done for the house of my God and its duties.

¹⁵ In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath, bringing in sheaves and loading them onto donkeys. They also brought wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads into Jerusalem on the Sabbath. I warned them on the day they were selling food.

¹⁶ Men from Tyre who lived there brought fish and all kinds of goods, and sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah in Jerusalem.

¹⁷ I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day?

¹⁸ Didn’t your ancestors do the same, bringing all this trouble on us and on this city from our God? Now you are bringing even more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.”

¹⁹ As the gates of Jerusalem grew dim before the Sabbath, I gave the order, and the gates were shut. I ordered that they not be opened until after the Sabbath. I stationed some of my servants at the gates so that no load could enter on the Sabbath day.

²⁰ Once or twice, the merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem.

²¹ I warned them and said, “Why are you spending the night in front of the wall? If you do it again, I will lay hands on you.” From then on, they no longer came on the Sabbath.

²² I told the Levites to purify themselves and come guard the gates, to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember me for this too, my God, and have mercy on me according to the greatness of your faithful love.

²³ In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.

²⁴ Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod and could not speak the language of Judah; each spoke the language of a different people.

²⁵ I confronted them, cursed them, beat some of them, and pulled out their hair. I made them swear by God: “Do not give your daughters in marriage to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.

²⁶ Wasn’t it because of such marriages that Solomon, king of Israel, sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Yet even he was led into sin by foreign women.

²⁷ Must we hear that you are doing this great evil too, being unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women?”

²⁸ One of the sons of Joiada, son of Eliashib the high priest, was a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite. I drove him away from me.

²⁹ Remember them, my God, because they defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.

³⁰ So I purified them from everything foreign, and established the duties for the priests and the Levites, each in his assigned work.

³¹ I also arranged for the wood offering at its appointed times and for the firstfruits. Remember me for good, my God.

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