Nehemiah 13:1-16 ▼

1 On that day they read from the Book of Moses into the ears of the people, and there was found written in it that an Ammonite or Moabite should not come into the assembly of God, even to the age,

2 because they had not met the sons of Israel with the bread and with the water, and they hired against them Balaam to curse them. (And our God turned the curse into a blessing.)

3 And it came to pass, at their hearing the Law, that they separated all the mixed multitude from Israel.

4 And before this Eliashib the priest, was being put in the chamber of the house of our God; he was near to Tobiah,

5 and he had made for him a great room, and there they were previously putting the offerings, the frankincense, and the articles, and the tithes of the grain, the new wine, and the oil—the commandment for the Levites and the singers and the gatekeepers—and the contribution for the priests.

6 And in all this I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had come to the king, and at the end of some days I asked from the king,

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

8 And it was a very evil thing to me, and I threw all the goods of the house of Tobiah outside from the room.

9 And I spoke, and they cleansed the rooms, and I returned there the articles of the house of God, with the offering and the frankincense.

10 And I knew that the portions for the Levites had not been given, and they had fled, each man to his field—the Levites and the singers doing the work.

11 And I contended with the rulers and said, “Why was the house of God forsaken?” And I gathered them and set them on their station.

12 And all Judah brought the tithe of the grain and the new wine and the oil to the treasuries.

13 And I appointed treasurers over the storehouses: Shelemiah the priest, and Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah from the Levites, and at their hand was Hanan son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah—for they were considered trustworthy. And it was upon them to distribute to their brothers.

14 Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my deeds of loving devotion that I have done for the house of my God and for its keeping.

15 In those days I saw in Judah those treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in the heaps of grain, and lifting loads upon the donkeys, and also wine, and grapes, and figs, and every load carried; and they were bringing it to Jerusalem on the day of the Sabbath. And I protested on the day of their selling provision.

16 And the Tyrians who dwelt in it were bringing fish and every of merchandise and selling on the Sabbath to the sons of Judah, even in Jerusalem.