Nehemiah 13
1 In that day they read in the book of
Moses in the ears of the people; and it was found written in it, that the
Ammonites and Moabites should not enter into the congregation of God for ever;
2 because they met not the children of
Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them: but
our God turned the curse into a blessing.
3 And it came to pass, when they heard
the law, that they were separated, even every alien
in Israel. 4 And before this time
Eliasib the priest dwelt in the treasury of the house of our God, connected
with Tobias; 5 and he made himself a
great treasury, and there they were formerly in the habit of bestowing the
offerings, and the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithe of the corn,
and the wine, and the oil, the ordered portion of the Levites, and singers,
and porters; and the first-fruits of the priests.
6 But in all this
time I was not in Jerusalem; for in the thirty-second
year of Arthasastha king of Babylon I came to the king, and after a certain
time I made my request of the king;
7 and I came to Jerusalem, and I
understood the mischief which Eliasib had done in the case of Tobias, in
making for him a treasury in the court of the house of God.
8 And it appeared very evil to me: so
I cast forth all the furniture of the house of Tobias from the treasury.
9 And I gave orders, and they purified
the treasuries: and I restored thither the vessels of the house of God,
and the offerings, and the frankincense.
10 And I understood that the portion
of the Levites had not been given: and they had fled every one to his field,
the Levites and the singers doing the work.
11 And I strove with the commanders,
and said, Wherefore has the house of God been abandoned? and I assembled them,
and set them in their place. 12 And
all Juda brought a tithe of the wheat and the wine and the oil into the
treasuries, 13 to the charge of
Selemia the priest, and Sadoc the scribe, and Phadaea of the Levites: and next
to them was Anan the son of Zacchur, son of
Matthanias; for they were accounted faithful:
it was their office to distribute to their brethren.
14 Remember me, O God, in this, and
let not my kindness be forgotten which I have wrought in
regard to the house of the Lord God.
15 In those days I saw in Juda
men treading wine-presses on the sabbath, and
carrying sheaves, and loading asses with both wine, and grapes, and figs, and
every kind of burden, and bringing them into
Jerusalem on the sabbath-day: 16 and
I testified in the day of their sale. Also their dwelt in it
men bringing fish, and selling every
kind of merchandise to the children of Juda and in
Jerusalem on the sabbath. 17 And I
strove with the free children of Juda, and said to them, What
is this evil thing which ye do, and profane the
sabbath-day? 18 Did not your fathers
thus, and our God brought upon them and upon us and upon this city all these
evils? and do ye bring additional wrath upon Israel by profaning the sabbath?
19 And it came to pass, when the
gates were set up in Jerusalem, before the sabbath, that I spoke, and they
shut the gates; and I gave orders that they should not be opened till after
the sabbath: and I set some of my servants at the
gates, that none should bring in burdens on the
sabbath-day. 20 So all
the merchants lodged, and carried on traffic without
Jerusalem once or twice. 21 Then I
testified against them, and said to them, Why do ye lodge in front of the
wall? if ye do so again, I will stretch out my hand upon you. From that time
they came not on the sabbath. 22 and
I told the Levites who were purifying themselves, and came and kept the gates,
that they should sanctify the sabbath-day. Remember me, O God, for these
things, and spare me according to the abundance of thy mercy.
23 And in those days I saw the Jews
who had married women of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of
Moab: 24 and their children spoke
half in the language of Ashdod, and did not know how to speak in the Jewish
language. 25 And I strove with them
and cursed them; and I smote some of them, and plucked off their hair, and
made them swear by God, saying,Ye shall not give your
daughters to their sons, and ye shall not take of their daughters to your
sons. 26 Did not Solomon king of
Israel sin thus? though there was no king like him among many nations, and he
was beloved of God, and God made him king over all Israel; yet strange women
turned him aside. 27 So we will not
hearken to you to do all this evil, to break covenant with our God, —to marry
strange wives. 28 and Elisub the high
priest, one of the sons of Joada,
being son-in-law of Sanaballat the Uranite, I chased
him away from me. 29 Remember them, O
God, for their false connection with the priesthood,
and the breaking the covenant of the priesthood, and
for defiling the Levites.
30 So I purged them from all foreign
connection, and established courses for the priests and the Levites,
every man according to his work.
31 And the offering of the
wood-bearers was at certain set times, and in the
times of the first-fruits. Remember me, O our God,
for good.