NehemiahChapter 13

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¹At that time the Book of Moses was read out loud for the people to hear. In it they found a law that said no Ammonite or Moabite should ever come into the assembly of God. ²This was because they had not met the Israelites with food and water. Instead, they had paid Balaam to put a curse on them. (But our God turned the curse into a blessing.) ³When the people heard this law, they removed from Israel everyone who came from foreign families. ⁴Before this, Eliashib the priest had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God. He was a relative of Tobiah. ⁵Eliashib had made a large room ready for Tobiah. That room had been used to store the grain offerings, the frankincense, and the temple tools. It had also held the tenths of grain, new wine, and olive oil. These were set aside by law for the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers. The gifts for the priests were kept there too. ⁶While all this was going on, I was not in Jerusalem. In the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon, I had gone back to the king. Some time later I asked the king to let me leave. ⁷I came back to Jerusalem. Then I found out about the evil thing Eliashib had done for Tobiah. He had given Tobiah a room in the courtyards of the house of God. ⁸I was very upset. I threw all of Tobiah's household things out of the room. ⁹Then I ordered that the rooms be made pure. I had the things of the house of God put back in them. I also put back the grain offerings and the frankincense. ¹⁰I also found out that the Levites had not been given their share. So all the Levites and singers who did the work had gone back to their own fields. ¹¹So I scolded the officials. I asked, "Why has the house of God been neglected?" Then I brought the Levites and singers back together. I put them back at their posts. ¹²Then all the people of Judah brought a tenth of their grain, new wine, and olive oil into the storerooms. ¹³I put men in charge of the storerooms. They were Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah, one of the Levites. Hanan son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah, helped them. I chose them because they were known to be honest. Their job was to hand out the supplies to their fellow Levites. ¹⁴Remember me for this, O my God. Do not wipe out the acts of faithful love I have done for the house of my God and for its worship. ¹⁵In those days I saw people in Judah crushing grapes in winepresses on the Sabbath. They were bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys. They loaded wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of goods too. They brought it all into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I warned them not to sell food on that day. ¹⁶Men from Tyre were living in Jerusalem too. They brought in fish and all kinds of goods. They sold them to the people of Judah in Jerusalem on the Sabbath. ¹⁷So I scolded the nobles of Judah. I said to them, "What is this evil thing you are doing? You are treating the Sabbath day as if it were not holy! ¹⁸Didn't your fathers do the same things? That is why our God brought all this trouble on us and on this city! And now you are making God's anger burn even more against Israel. You are treating the Sabbath as if it were not holy!" ¹⁹Evening shadows began to fall on the gates of Jerusalem just before the Sabbath. Then I ordered the gates to be shut. They were not to be opened until the Sabbath was over. I put some of my servants at the gates. That way no load could be brought in on the Sabbath day. ²⁰Once or twice the traders and sellers of all kinds of goods camped outside Jerusalem for the night. ²¹But I warned them, "Why are you camping by the wall? If you do this again, I will use force against you." From then on, they did not come on the Sabbath. ²²Then I told the Levites to make themselves pure. I told them to come and guard the gates, so the Sabbath day would be kept holy. Remember me for this too, O my God. Show me mercy because your faithful love is so great. ²³In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. ²⁴Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or of the other nations. They could not speak the language of Judah. ²⁵I scolded them and called down curses on them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair. I made them swear an oath before God. I said, "You must not let your daughters marry their sons. And you must not take their daughters as wives for your sons or for yourselves! ²⁶Isn't this the kind of thing that made King Solomon of Israel sin? Among many nations there was no king like him. His God loved him and made him king over all Israel. But even he was led into sin by foreign women. ²⁷Now must we hear that you are doing this terrible evil too? You are being unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women!" ²⁸One of the sons of Jehoiada had married the daughter of Sanballat the Horonite. Jehoiada was the son of Eliashib the high priest. So I chased that man away from me. ²⁹Remember them, O my God, because they have made the priesthood unclean. They have also made unclean the covenant of the priests and the Levites. ³⁰So I made the priests and Levites pure from everything foreign. I gave each of the priests and Levites a job to do. ³¹I also set times for people to bring gifts of wood. And I made plans for the firstfruits. Remember me with kindness, O my God.