| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | English Standard Version |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1On that day they read from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people. And in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God, |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2for they did not meet the people of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them—yet our God turned the curse into a blessing. |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3As soon as the people heard the law, they separated from Israel all those of foreign descent. |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, and who was related to Tobiah, |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5prepared for Tobiah a large chamber where they had previously put the grain offering, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of grain, wine, and oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests. |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6While this was taking place, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went to the king. And after some time I asked leave of the king |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7and came to Jerusalem, and I then discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, preparing for him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8And I was very angry, and I threw all the household furniture of Tobiah out of the chamber. |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9Then I gave orders, and they cleansed the chambers, and I brought back there the vessels of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense. |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10I also found out that the portions of the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had fled each to his field. |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11So I confronted the officials and said, “Why is the house of God forsaken?” And I gathered them together and set them in their stations. |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses. |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13And I appointed as treasurers over the storehouses Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, and as their assistant Hanan the son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, for they were considered reliable, and their duty was to distribute to their brothers. |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for his service. |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15In those days I saw in Judah people treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them on the day when they sold food. |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 16Tyrians also, who lived in the city, brought in fish and all kinds of goods and sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah, in Jerusalem itself! |
| 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17Then I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day? |
| 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 18Did not your fathers act in this way, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Now you are bringing more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.” |
| 19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19As soon as it began to grow dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and gave orders that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. And I stationed some of my servants at the gates, that no load might be brought in on the Sabbath day. |
| 20[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 20Then the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice. |
| 21[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 21But I warned them and said to them, “Why do you lodge outside the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you.” From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath. |
| 22[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 22Then I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come and guard the gates, to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember this also in my favor, O my God, and spare me according to the greatness of your steadfast love. |
| 23[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 23In those days also I saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. |
| 24[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 24And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of Judah, but only the language of each people. |
| 25[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 25And I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair. And I made them take an oath in the name of God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. |
| 26[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 26Did not Solomon king of Israel sin on account of such women? Among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was beloved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless, foreign women made even him to sin. |
| 27[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 27Shall we then listen to you and do all this great evil and act treacherously against our God by marrying foreign women?” |
| 28[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 28And one of the sons of Jehoiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite. Therefore I chased him from me. |
| 29[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 29Remember them, O my God, because they have desecrated the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites. |
| 30[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 30Thus I cleansed them from everything foreign, and I established the duties of the priests and Levites, each in his work; |
| 31[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 31and I provided for the wood offering at appointed times, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good. |
| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. |
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