Nehemiah 13

¹ At that time they were reading from the Book of Moses to the people, when they found this written in it, ‘The Ammonite and the Moabite shall never be admitted to the assembly of God,

² since they did not come to meet the sons of Israel with bread and water. They hired Balaam against them to curse them,[*a] but our God turned the curse into a blessing.’

³ As soon as the people had heard the Law they excluded all of foreign descent from Israel.

⁴ Now before this, Eliashib the priest had been appointed supervisor of the chambers of the Temple of our God. A connection of Tobiah’s,

⁵ he had furnished a spacious chamber for him where the oblations, incense, utensils, tithes of corn, wine and oil had previously been kept, that is to say the portions of the Levites, cantors and gatekeepers, and what was set aside for the priests.

⁶ While all this was going on I was away from Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon [*b] I had gone to see the king. But after some time I asked the king for permission to leave,

⁷ and returned to Jerusalem. It was then that I heard the wicked thing that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, furnishing a chamber for him inside the court of the Temple of God.

⁸ This made me very angry. I threw all Tobiah’s household furniture out of the chamber,

⁹ gave orders for the chambers to be purified, and had the utensils of the Temple of God, the oblations and the incense, all put back.

¹⁰ I also discovered that the portions of the Levites were not being delivered and that they, the Levites and the cantors responsible for the liturgy, had all gone off home to their fields.

¹¹ I reprimanded the officials. ‘Why is the Temple of God deserted?’ I asked. And I collected them together again and sent them back to their duties.

¹² Then the whole of Judah brought the tithe of corn, wine and oil to the storehouses.

¹³ As supervisors of the storehouses I appointed Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, Pedaiah one of the Levites and, as their assistants, Hanan son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, since they were considered reliable; their duty was to make the distributions to their kinsmen.

¹⁴ Remember me for this, my God; do not blot out the pious deed I have done for the Temple of my God and for its liturgy.

¹⁵ In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the sabbath, and others taking sheaves of corn and loading them on donkeys with wine, grapes, figs and every kind of load which they meant to bring into Jerusalem on the sabbath day. I warned them not to sell the foodstuffs.

¹⁶ In Jerusalem itself, Tyrians who lived in the city were bringing in fish and every sort of merchandise to sell them on the sabbath day.

¹⁷ I reprimanded the authorities of Judah, ‘What a wicked way to behave, profaning the sabbath day!

¹⁸ Did not your ancestors do just this, with the result that our God brought all this misery on us and on this city? Do you want to bring fresh wrath on Israel, by profaning the sabbath?’

¹⁹ So just before the sabbath[*c] as the shadows were falling on the gates of Jerusalem, I gave orders for the doors to be shut, and said, ‘Do not open them again until the sabbath is over’. I stationed a few of my servants at the gates to see that no load was brought in on the sabbath day.

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

²¹ but I gave them this warning, ‘Why are you spending the night by the wall? Do it again, and I will punish you.’ After that, they did not come on the sabbath any more.

²² I ordered the Levites to purify themselves and to come and supervise the gates, so that the sabbath day might be kept holy. For this too remember me, my God, and as your mercy is great, so pity me.

²³ At that time I again saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab.

²⁴ As regards their children, half of them spoke the language of Ashdod[*d] or the language of one of the other peoples, but could not speak the language of Judah.

²⁵ I reprimanded them and called down curses on them; I struck several of them and tore out their hair and made them swear by God, ‘You shall not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters either for your sons or for yourselves.

²⁶ Is this not how Solomon king of Israel sinned? Among all the nations there was never a king like him; he was loved by his God; God made him king of all Israel; and yet for him, foreign women were causes of sin.

²⁷ Must we then hear it said that you too are committing this grave crime: playing traitor to our God by marrying foreign women?’

²⁸ One of the sons of Jehoiada, son of the high priest Eliashib, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite, and I expelled him from my presence.

²⁹ Remember these, O my God, for the degradation they have brought on the priesthood and on the covenant of the priests and Levites.

³⁰ And so I purged them of everything foreign; I drew up regulations for the priests and Levites defining each man’s duty,

³¹ and regulations for the deliveries of wood at stated times, and for the first-fruits. Remember me, my God, for my happiness.