Nehemiah 13:1 - Prayer Tents



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Nehemiah 13
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Separation from Foreigners

13When the Law of Moses was being read aloud to the people, they came to the passage that said that no Ammonite or Moabite was ever to be permitted to join God's people.H3117H7121H5612H4872H241H5971H4672H3789H5984H4125H935H6951H430H5704H5769
2This was because the people of Ammon and Moab did not give food and water to the Israelites on their way out of Egypt. Instead, they paid money to Balaam to curse Israel, but our God turned the curse into a blessing.H6923H1121H3478H3899H4325H7936H1109H7043H430H2015H7045H1293
3When the people of Israel heard this law read, they excluded all foreigners from the community.H8085H8451H914H3478H6154

Nehemiah’s Reforms

4The priest Eliashib, who was in charge of the Temple storerooms, had for a long time been on good terms with Tobiah.H6440H475H3548H5414H3957H1004H430H7138H2900
5He allowed Tobiah to use a large room that was intended only for storing offerings of grain and incense, the equipment used in the Temple, the offerings for the priests, and the tithes of grain, wine, and olive oil given to the Levites, to the Temple musicians, and to the Temple guards.H6213H1419H3957H6440H5414H4503H3828H3627H4643H1715H8492H3323H4687H3881H7891H7778H8641H3548
6While this was going on, I was not in Jerusalem, because in the thirty-second year that Artaxerxes was king of Babylon I had gone back to report to him. After some time I received his permissionH3389H8147H7970H8141H783H4428H894H935H4428H7093H3117H7592H4428
7and returned to Jerusalem. There I was shocked to find that Eliashib had allowed Tobiah to use a room in the Temple.H935H3389H995H7451H475H6213H2900H6213H5393H2691H1004H430
8I was furious and threw out all of Tobiah's belongings.H3415H3966H7993H1004H3627H2900H2351H3957
9I gave orders for the rooms to be ritually purified and for the Temple equipment, grain offerings, and incense to be put back.H559H2891H3957H7725H3627H1004H430H4503H3828
10I also learned that the Temple musicians and other Levites had left Jerusalem and gone back to their farms, because the people had not been giving them enough to live on.H3045H4521H3881H5414H3881H7891H6213H4399H1272H376H7704
11I reprimanded the officials for letting the Temple be neglected. And I brought the Levites and musicians back to the Temple and put them to work again.H7378H5461H559H1004H430H5800H6908H5975H5977
12Then all the people of Israel again started bringing to the Temple storerooms their tithes of grain, wine, and olive oil.H935H3063H4643H1715H8492H3323H214
13I put the following men in charge of the storerooms: Shelemiah, a priest; Zadok, a scholar of the Law; and Pedaiah, a Levite. Hanan, the son of Zaccur and grandson of Mattaniah, was to be their assistant. I knew I could trust these men to be honest in distributing the supplies to the other workers.H686H214H8018H3548H6659H5608H3881H6305H3027H2605H1121H2139H1121H4983H2803H539H2505H251
14Remember, my God, all these things that I have done for your Temple and its worship.H2142H430H4229H2617H6213H1004H430H4929
15At that time I saw people in Judah pressing juice from grapes on the Sabbath. Others were loading grain, wine, grapes, figs, and other things on their donkeys and taking them into Jerusalem; I warned them not to sell anything on the Sabbath.H3117H7200H3063H1869H1660H7676H935H6194H6006H2543H3196H6025H8384H4853H935H3389H7676H3117H5749H3117H4376H6718
16Some people from the city of Tyre were living in Jerusalem, and they brought fish and all kinds of goods into the city to sell to our people on the Sabbath.H3427H6876H935H1709H1709H4377H4376H7676H1121H3063H3389
17I reprimanded the Jewish leaders and told them, "Look at the evil you're doing! You're making the Sabbath unholy.H7378H2715H3063H559H7451H1697H6213H2490H7676H3117
18This is exactly why God punished your ancestors when he brought destruction on this city. And yet you insist on bringing more of God's anger down on Israel by profaning the Sabbath."H6213H1H935H430H935H7451H5892H935H3254H2740H3478H2490H7676
19So I gave orders for the city gates to be shut at the beginning of every Sabbath, as soon as evening began to fall, and not to be opened again until the Sabbath was over. I stationed some of my men at the gates to make sure that nothing was brought into the city on the Sabbath.H8179H3389H6751H6440H7676H559H1817H5462H559H6605H310H7676H5288H5975H8179H4853H935H7676H3117
20Once or twice merchants who sold all kinds of goods spent Friday night outside the city walls.H7402H4376H4465H3885H2351H3389H6471H8147
21I warned them, "It's no use waiting out there for morning to come. If you try this again, I'll use force on you." From then on they did not come back on the Sabbath.H5749H559H3885H5048H2346H8138H7971H3027H6256H935H7676
22I ordered the Levites to purify themselves and to go and guard the gates to make sure that the Sabbath was kept holy. Remember me, O God, for this also, and spare me because of your great love.H559H3881H2891H935H8104H8179H6942H7676H3117H2142H430H2347H7230H2617
23At that time I also discovered that many of the Jewish men had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.H3117H7200H3064H3427H802H796H5984H4125
24Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or some other language and didn't know how to speak our language.H1121H1696H2677H797H5234H1696H3066H3956H5971H5971
25I reprimanded the men, called down curses on them, beat them, and pulled out their hair. Then I made them take an oath in God's name that never again would they or their children intermarry with foreigners.H7378H7043H5221H582H4803H7650H430H5414H1323H1121H5375H1323H1121
26I told them, "It was foreign women that made King Solomon sin. Here was a man who was greater than any of the kings of other nations. God loved him and made him king over all of Israel, and yet he fell into this sin.H8010H4428H3478H2398H7227H1471H4428H157H430H430H5414H4428H3478H1571H5237H802H2398
27Are we then to follow your example and disobey our God by marrying foreign women?"H8085H6213H1419H7451H4603H430H3427H5237H802
28Joiada was the son of Eliashib the High Priest, but one of Joiada's sons married the daughter of Sanballat, from the town of Beth Horon, so I made Joiada leave Jerusalem.H1121H3111H1121H475H1419H3548H2860H5571H2772H1272
29Remember, God, how those people defiled both the office of priest and the covenant you made with the priests and the Levites.H2142H430H1352H3550H1285H3550H3881
30I purified the people from everything foreign; I prepared regulations for the priests and the Levites so that all of them would know their duties;H2891H5236H5975H4931H3548H3881H376H4399
31I arranged for the wood used for burning the offerings to be brought at the proper times, and for the people to bring their offerings of the first grain and the first fruits that ripened. Remember all this, O God, and give me credit for it.H6086H7133H6256H2163H1061H2142H430H2896


Good News Translation. Scripture taken from the Good News Translation in Today’s English Version- Second Edition Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission. More details.
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