Nehemiah 13

13 ¹ On that day they read aloud from the book of Moses to the people, and they found it written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of our Father, ² because they did not meet the people of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them—yet our Father turned the curse into a blessing, because he loved them. ³ As soon as the people heard the Law, they separated from Israel everyone of foreign descent.

⁴ Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who had been appointed over the storerooms of the house of our Father and was closely associated with Tobiah, ⁵ had prepared for him a large room where they had formerly stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, the temple articles, and the tithes of grain, new wine, and oil prescribed for the Levites, the singers, and the gatekeepers, along with the contributions for the priests. ⁶ During all this I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had gone to the king. But after some time I asked his permission to leave, ⁷ and I came back to Jerusalem. Then I learned of the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah by preparing a room for him in the courts of the house of our Father. ⁸ I was deeply grieved, and I threw all of Tobiah's household belongings out of the room. ⁹ Then I gave orders, and they purified the rooms, and I brought back into them the articles of the house of our Father, with the grain offerings and the frankincense.

¹⁰ I also discovered that the portions due the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers who did the work had each gone back to his own field. ¹¹ So I confronted the officials and said, "Why is the house of our Father neglected?" Then I gathered the Levites and put them back in their posts. ¹² Then all Judah brought the tithe of grain, new wine, and oil into the storehouses. ¹³ I appointed Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah, a Levite, over the storehouses, with Hanan son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, as their assistant, for these men were considered trustworthy; and their duty was to distribute the supplies to their fellow Levites.

¹⁴ Remember me for this, my Father, and do not blot out the faithful deeds I have done for the house of my Father and its service.

¹⁵ In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath, hauling in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, along with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of goods, and bringing them into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I warned them that very day about selling food. ¹⁶ Men of Tyre who lived there were bringing in fish and all kinds of goods and selling them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah—and in Jerusalem itself! ¹⁷ So I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, "What is this evil thing you are doing—profaning the Sabbath day? ¹⁸ Did not your ancestors do the same, so that our Father brought all this disaster on us and on this city? Now you are stirring up even more wrath against Israel by profaning the Sabbath."

¹⁹ So at dusk, as the gates of Jerusalem grew dark before the Sabbath, I ordered the doors to be shut and commanded that they not be opened until after the Sabbath. I stationed some of my own men at the gates so that no goods could be brought in on the Sabbath day. ²⁰ Once or twice the merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem. ²¹ But I warned them and said to them, "Why do you camp in front of the wall? If you do this again, I will seize you." From that time on they no longer came on the Sabbath. ²² Then I commanded the Levites to purify themselves and come and guard the gates, to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember this also for me, my Father, and spare me according to your great faithful love.

²³ In those days I also saw men of Judah who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. ²⁴ Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples, and they did not know how to speak the language of Judah. ²⁵ So I confronted them and called down a curse on them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair, and I made them swear by our Father: "You must not give your daughters in marriage to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. ²⁶ "Wasn't it for marriages like these that Solomon king of Israel sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him; he was loved by his Father, and our Father made him king over all Israel. Yet even he was led into sin by foreign women. ²⁷ Should we then listen to you and commit all this great evil, acting unfaithfully against our Father by marrying foreign women?"

²⁸ One of the sons of Jehoiada son of Eliashib the high priest had married a daughter of Sanballat the Horonite; so I banished him from my presence. ²⁹ Remember them, my Father, because they defiled the priesthood and the covenant made with the priests and Levites.

³⁰ So I purified them from everything foreign, and I assigned duties to the priests and Levites, each to his own task, ³¹ and I arranged for the wood offering at the appointed times and for the firstfruits. Remember me, my Father, with favor.