Nehemiah 13:25 - Prayer Tents

Foreigners Excluded

13On that day they read aloud from the book of Moses in the hearing of the people; and there was found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God,H3117H7121H5612H4872H241H5971H4672H3789H5984H4125H935H6951H430H5704H5769

2because they did not meet the sons of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them. However, our God turned the curse into a blessing.H6923H1121H3478H3899H4325H7936H1109H7043H430H2015H7045H1293

3So it came about, that when they heard the law, they excluded all foreigners from Israel.H8085H8451H914H3478H6154

Tobiah Expelled and the Temple Cleansed

4Now prior to this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, being related to Tobiah,H6440H475H3548H5414H3957H1004H430H7138H2900

5had prepared a large room for him, where formerly they put the grain offerings, the frankincense, the utensils, and the tithes of grain, wine and oil prescribed for the Levites, the singers and the gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests.H6213H1419H3957H6440H5414H4503H3828H3627H4643H1715H8492H3323H4687H3881H7891H7778H8641H3548

6But during 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. After some time, however, I asked leave from the king,H3389H8147H7970H8141H783H4428H894H935H4428H7093H3117H7592H4428

7and I came to Jerusalem and learned about the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, by preparing a room for him in the courts of the house of God.H935H3389H995H7451H475H6213H2900H6213H5393H2691H1004H430

8And it was very displeasing to me, so I threw all of Tobiah's household goods out of the room.H3415H3966H7993H1004H3627H2900H2351H3957

9Then I gave an order and they cleansed the rooms; and I returned there the utensils of the house of God with the grain offerings and the frankincense.H559H2891H3957H7725H3627H1004H430H4503H3828

Tithes Restored

10I also discovered that the portions of the Levites had not been given [them], so that the Levites and the singers who performed the service had gone away, each to his own field.H3045H4521H3881H5414H3881H7891H6213H4399H1272H376H7704

11So I reprimanded the officials and said, "Why is the house of God forsaken?" Then I gathered them together and restored them to their posts.H7378H5461H559H1004H430H5800H6908H5975H5977

12All Judah then brought the tithe of the grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses.H935H3063H4643H1715H8492H3323H214

13And in charge of the storehouses I appointed Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, and in addition to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for they were considered reliable, and it was their task to distribute to their kinsmen.H686H214H8018H3548H6659H5608H3881H6305H3027H2605H1121H2139H1121H4983H2803H539H2505H251

14Remember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out my loyal deeds which I have performed for the house of my God and its services.H2142H430H4229H2617H6213H1004H430H4929

Sabbath Restored

15In those days I saw in Judah some who were treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sacks of grain and loading [them] on donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, and they brought [them] into Jerusalem on the sabbath day. So I admonished [them] on the day they sold food.H3117H7200H3063H1869H1660H7676H935H6194H6006H2543H3196H6025H8384H4853H935H3389H7676H3117H5749H3117H4376H6718

16Also men of Tyre were living there [who] imported fish and all kinds of merchandise, and sold [them] to the sons of Judah on the sabbath, even in Jerusalem.H3427H6876H935H1709H1709H4377H4376H7676H1121H3063H3389

17Then I reprimanded the nobles of Judah and said to them, "What is this evil thing you are doing, by profaning the sabbath day?H7378H2715H3063H559H7451H1697H6213H2490H7676H3117

18"Did not your fathers do the same so that our God brought on us, and on this city, all this trouble? Yet you are adding to the wrath on Israel by profaning the sabbath."H6213H1H935H430H935H7451H5892H935H3254H2740H3478H2490H7676

19And it came about that just as it grew dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and that they should not open them until after the sabbath. Then I stationed some of my servants at the gates [that] no load should enter on the sabbath day.H8179H3389H6751H6440H7676H559H1817H5462H559H6605H310H7676H5288H5975H8179H4853H935H7676H3117

20Once or twice the traders and merchants of every kind of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem.H7402H4376H4465H3885H2351H3389H6471H8147

21Then I warned them and said to them, "Why do you spend the night in front of the wall? If you do so again, I will use force against you." From that time on they did not come on the sabbath.H5749H559H3885H5048H2346H8138H7971H3027H6256H935H7676

22And I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come as gatekeepers to sanctify the sabbath day. [For] this also remember me, O my God, and have compassion on me according to the greatness of Thy lovingkindness.H559H3881H2891H935H8104H8179H6942H7676H3117H2142H430H2347H7230H2617

Mixed Marriages Forbidden

23In those days I also saw that the Jews had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, [and] Moab.H3117H7200H3064H3427H802H796H5984H4125

24As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them was able to speak the language of Judah, but the language of his own people.H1121H1696H2677H797H5234H1696H3066H3956H5971H5971

25So I contended with them and cursed them and struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, "You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.H7378H7043H5221H582H4803H7650H430H5414H1323H1121H5375H1323H1121

26"Did not Solomon king of Israel sin regarding these things? Yet among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless the foreign women caused even him to sin.H8010H4428H3478H2398H7227H1471H4428H157H430H430H5414H4428H3478H1571H5237H802H2398

27"Do we then hear about you that you have committed all this great evil by acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?"H8085H6213H1419H7451H4603H430H3427H5237H802

28Even one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite, so I drove him away from me.H1121H3111H1121H475H1419H3548H2860H5571H2772H1272

29Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.H2142H430H1352H3550H1285H3550H3881

30Thus I purified them from everything foreign and appointed duties for the priests and the Levites, each in his task,H2891H5236H5975H4931H3548H3881H376H4399

31and [I arranged] for the supply of wood at appointed times and for the first fruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.H6086H7133H6256H2163H1061H2142H430H2896