Nehemiah 13
13On that day the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people and there it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be admitted into the assembly of God,H3117H7121H5612H4872H241H5971H4672H3789H5984H4125H935H6951H430H5704H57692because they had not met the Israelites with food and water but had hired Balaam to call a curse down on them. (Our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing.)H6923H1121H3478H3899H4325H7936H1109H7043H430H2015H7045H12933When the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all who were of foreign descent.H8085H8451H914H3478H61544Before this, Eliashib the priest had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God. He was closely associated with Tobiah,H6440H475H3548H5414H3957H1004H430H7138H29005and he had provided him with a large room formerly used to store the grain offerings and incense and temple articles, and also the tithes of grain, new wine and oil prescribed for the Levites, singers and gatekeepers, as well as the contributions for the priests.H6213H1419H3957H6440H5414H4503H3828H3627H4643H1715H8492H3323H4687H3881H7891H7778H8641H35486But while all this was going on, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Some time later I asked his permissionH3389H8147H7970H8141H783H4428H894H935H4428H7093H3117H7592H44287and came back to Jerusalem. Here I learned about the evil thing Eliashib had done in providing Tobiah a room in the courts of the house of God.H935H3389H995H7451H475H6213H2900H6213H5393H2691H1004H4308I was greatly displeased and threw all Tobiah's household goods out of the room.H3415H3966H7993H1004H3627H2900H2351H39579I gave orders to purify the rooms, and then I put back into them the equipment of the house of God, with the grain offerings and the incense.H559H2891H3957H7725H3627H1004H430H4503H382810I also learned that the portions assigned to the Levites had not been given to them, and that all the Levites and singers responsible for the service had gone back to their own fields.H3045H4521H3881H5414H3881H7891H6213H4399H1272H376H770411So I rebuked the officials and asked them, "Why is the house of God neglected?" Then I called them together and stationed them at their posts.H7378H5461H559H1004H430H5800H6908H5975H597712All Judah brought the tithes of grain, new wine and oil into the storerooms.H935H3063H4643H1715H8492H3323H21413I put Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and a Levite named Pedaiah in charge of the storerooms and made Hanan son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah, their assistant, because these men were considered trustworthy. They were made responsible for distributing the supplies to their brothers.H686H214H8018H3548H6659H5608H3881H6305H3027H2605H1121H2139H1121H4983H2803H539H2505H25114Remember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out what I have so faithfully done for the house of my God and its services.H2142H430H4229H2617H6213H1004H430H492915In those days I saw men in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, together with wine, grapes, figs and all other kinds of loads. And they were bringing all this into Jerusalem on the Sabbath. Therefore I warned them against selling food on that day.H3117H7200H3063H1869H1660H7676H935H6194H6006H2543H3196H6025H8384H4853H935H3389H7676H3117H5749H3117H4376H671816Men from Tyre who lived in Jerusalem were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them in Jerusalem on the Sabbath to the people of Judah.H3427H6876H935H1709H1709H4377H4376H7676H1121H3063H338917I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, "What is this wicked thing you are doing--desecrating the Sabbath day?H7378H2715H3063H559H7451H1697H6213H2490H7676H311718Didn't your forefathers do the same things, so that our God brought all this calamity upon us and upon this city? Now you are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath."H6213H1H935H430H935H7451H5892H935H3254H2740H3478H2490H767619When evening shadows fell on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered the doors to be shut and not opened until the Sabbath was over. I stationed some of my own men at the gates so that no load could be brought in on the Sabbath day.H8179H3389H6751H6440H7676H559H1817H5462H559H6605H310H7676H5288H5975H8179H4853H935H7676H311720Once or twice the merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem.H7402H4376H4465H3885H2351H3389H6471H814721But I warned them and said, "Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you do this again, I will lay hands on you." From that time on they no longer came on the Sabbath.H5749H559H3885H5048H2346H8138H7971H3027H6256H935H767622Then I commanded the Levites to purify themselves and go and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember me for this also, O my God, and show mercy to me according to your great love.H559H3881H2891H935H8104H8179H6942H7676H3117H2142H430H2347H7230H261723Moreover, in those days I saw men of Judah who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab.H3117H7200H3064H3427H802H796H5984H412524Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples, and did not know how to speak the language of Judah.H1121H1696H2677H797H5234H1696H3066H3956H5971H597125I rebuked them and called curses down on them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair. I made them take an oath in God's name and said: "You are not to give your daughters in marriage to their sons, nor are you to take their daughters in marriage for your sons or for yourselves.H7378H7043H5221H582H4803H7650H430H5414H1323H1121H5375H1323H112126Was it not because of marriages like these 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, but even he was led into sin by foreign women.H8010H4428H3478H2398H7227H1471H4428H157H430H430H5414H4428H3478H1571H5237H802H239827Must we hear now that you too are doing all this terrible wickedness and are being unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women?"H8085H6213H1419H7451H4603H430H3427H5237H80228One 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.H1121H3111H1121H475H1419H3548H2860H5571H2772H127229Remember them, O my God, because they defiled the priestly office and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.H2142H430H1352H3550H1285H3550H388130So I purified the priests and the Levites of everything foreign, and assigned them duties, each to his own task.H2891H5236H5975H4931H3548H3881H376H439931I also made provision for contributions of wood at designated times, and for the firstfruits. Remember me with favor, O my God.H6086H7133H6256H2163H1061H2142H430H2896
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