Nehemiah 13

1On that day the book of Moses was read in the hearing of the people, and it was found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite should enter the assembly of God forever.

2Because they did not come to meet the sons of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them, our God changed the curse into a blessing.

3When they heard the law, they separated all the mingled people from Israel.

4Before this, Eliashib the priest, appointed over the chamber of the house of our God, was near to Tobiah.

5He arranged a large chamber for him where they had formerly stored the grain offerings, frankincense, vessels, and tithes of the grain, new wine, and oil commanded for the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, along with the priests' heave offerings.

6But in all this, I was not in Jerusalem; for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went to the king, and after some days I requested permission from the king.

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

8It distressed me greatly, and I threw all the household vessels of Tobiah outside from the chamber.

9I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers, and I restored there the vessels of the house of God, the grain offering and the frankincense.

10I discovered that the portions of the Levites had not been given them, so the Levites and the singers doing the work had fled, each to his field.

11I rebuked the rulers and said, "Why has the house of God been forsaken?" I gathered them and stationed them at their posts.

12All Judah brought the tithe of the grain, the new wine, and the oil to the treasuries.

13I appointed treasurers over the treasuries—Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites—with Hanan son of Zaccur son of Mattaniah under them, for they were considered faithful, and their charge was to distribute to their brothers.

14Remember me, my God, for this, and do not blot out my acts of kindness that I have done for the house of my God and its charges.

15In those days I saw in Judah people treading winepresses on the Sabbath, bringing sheaves and loading donkeys, along with wine, grapes, figs, and every kind of burden that they carried into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; and I protested against them on the day they sold food.

16Men of Tyre lived there, bringing fish and all kinds of merchandise, selling on the Sabbath to the sons of Judah and in Jerusalem.

17I rebuked the prominent men of Judah and said to them, "What evil thing is this that you do, defiling the Sabbath day?"

18Didn't your fathers do the same, so our God brought all this calamity upon us and this city? Yet you add more fury upon Israel by defiling the Sabbath.

19When dusk gathered at Jerusalem's gates before the Sabbath, I ordered the doors shut and commanded they not be opened until after the Sabbath, stationing some of my young men at the gates so no load would enter on the Sabbath day.

20The merchants and sellers of all merchandise lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice.

21I charged them and said to them, "Why do you remain near the wall? If you repeat this, I will send my hand against you." From that time on, they came no more on the Sabbath.

22I charged the Levites to make themselves pure, come and watch the gates, and consecrate the Sabbath day. Remember this for me too, my God, and show me pity according to the abundance of your mercy.

23In those days I also saw Jews who had married Ashdodite, Ammonite, and Moabite women.

24And half their children spoke Ashdodite, and they could not speak Jewish, but according to each people's language.

25I quarreled with them, cursed them, struck some of them, plucked their hair, and adjured them by God: "Do not give your daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons or yourselves."

26Didn't Solomon, king of Israel, sin because of these things? Yet among many nations no king like him existed, loved as he was by his God, and God appointed him king over all Israel; even so, foreign women caused him to sin.

27Should we heed you to commit all this great evil, to act faithlessly against our God by marrying foreign women?

28One of Joiada's sons, a son of Eliashib the high priest, was the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite, so I drove him from me.

29Remember them, my God, for defiling the priesthood, the covenant of the priesthood, and the Levites.

30So I purified them from every foreigner and established divisions for the priests and the Levites, each in his service.

31And for wood offerings at appointed times and for the firstfruits, remember me, my God, for good.