Nehemiah 13

1 On that day the book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people, and it was found written in it that Ammonites and Moabites must never enter the assembly of God, [a] 2 because they did not meet the children of Israel with bread and water, and they hired Balaam against him to curse him — but our God turned the curse into a blessing. [b] 3 And when they heard the law, every mixed crowd in Israel was separated out.

4 Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was living in a storeroom of the house of our God, was close to Tobiah, 5 and he made him a great storeroom. And that was where they used to put the grain offering and the frankincense and the vessels and the tenth of the grain and the wine and the oil — what was commanded for the Levites and the singers and the gatekeepers — and the firstfruits of the priests. [c]

6 In all this time I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had gone to the king. And at the end of some days I asked leave of the king [d] 7 and came to Jerusalem. And I understood the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, in making him a storeroom in the court of the house of God. [e] 8 And it seemed very evil to me, and I threw all the vessels of Tobiah’s house out of the storeroom. 9 And I gave the word, and they made the storerooms clean; and I brought back there the vessels of the house of God, the grain offering and the frankincense.

10 And I learned that the shares of the Levites had not been given, and that the Levites and the singers who did the work had run off, each man to his own field. 11 And I contended with the commanders and said, “Why has the house of God been abandoned?” And I gathered them together and set them at their posts.

12 And all Judah brought the tenth of the wheat and the wine and the oil into the treasuries, 13 into the hand of Shelemiah the priest and Zadok the scribe and Pedaiah of the Levites; and next to them was Hanan son of Zaccur son of Mattaniah, because they were counted faithful. It was their charge to hand out the shares to their brothers. 14 “Remember me, O God, for this, and do not blot out the mercy I have shown to the house of the Lord God.”

15 In those days I saw in Judah men treading winepresses on the sabbath, and carrying in sheaves, and loading donkeys — with wine, and grapes and figs and every kind of load — and bringing them into Jerusalem on the sabbath day. And I warned them on the day they sold their produce. [f] 16 And they settled in the city, bringing in fish and every kind of merchandise, selling on the sabbath to the people of Judah and in Jerusalem. [g]

17 And I contended with the free men of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing you are doing, treating the sabbath day as common? [h] 18 Did your fathers not do the same, so that our God brought all these evils on them, and on us, and on this city? And you are adding more wrath on Israel by treating the sabbath as common.”

19 And when the gates of Jerusalem stood in place before the sabbath, I gave the word and they shut the gates, and I said they were not to be opened until after the sabbath. And I stationed some of my servants at the gates, so that no load should be brought in on the sabbath day. 20 And they all lodged and did their trading outside Jerusalem, once and twice. [i] 21 Then I warned them and said to them, “Why are you lodging in front of the wall? If you do it a second time, I will stretch out my hand against you.” From that time on they did not come on the sabbath.

22 And I told the Levites, who were making themselves clean and coming to guard the gates, to keep the sabbath day holy. “For this too remember me, O God, and spare me according to the abundance of your mercy.”

23 And in those days I saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, of Ammon and of Moab; 24 and half of their sons spoke the language of Ashdod, and they did not know how to speak the language of the Jews. [j]

25 And I contended with them and cursed them, and I struck some of the men among them and pulled out their hair, and I made them swear by God: “You are not to give your daughters to their sons, and you are not to take any of their daughters for your sons. [k] 26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin in just this way? Among many nations there was no king like him, and he was loved by God, and God made him king over all Israel — and even him the foreign women turned aside. 27 And are we to listen to you, and do all this evil, breaking faith with our God by marrying foreign women?” [l]

28 And one of the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib the high priest was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite; and I drove him away from me. [m] 29 “Remember them, O God, for the kinship of the priesthood, and for the covenant of the priesthood, and the Levites.” [n]

30 So I made them clean from everything foreign, and I set up the daily divisions for the priests and the Levites, each man at his own work, 31 and the gift of the wood-bearers at set times of the year, and the firstfruits. “Remember me, O our God, for good.” [o]