﻿Nehemiah.
Chapter 13.
That day the Book of Moses was read aloud to the people, and it was found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God, 
because they had not met the Israelites with bread and water, and Balaam had been hired to curse Israel. But our God turned the curse into a blessing. 
When they heard the law, they separated all the mixed multitude from Israel. 
Before this, Eliashib the priest, who was in charge of the chamber of the house of our God, was related to Tobiah. 
He had prepared a large chamber for him where previously they had stored the grain offering, the frankincense, the utensils, and the tithes of grain, new wine, and oil commanded for the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, along with the contribution for the priests. 
During all this 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 I requested leave from the king 
and returned to Jerusalem. Then I learned of the evil Eliashib had done for Tobiah by preparing a chamber for him in the courts of the house of God. 
This displeased me greatly, and I threw all Tobiah's household belongings out of the chamber. 
I gave orders, and they purified the chambers. Then I brought back there the utensils of the house of God, the grain offering, and the frankincense. 
I also learned that the Levites had not been given their portions, and that the Levites and singers who did the work had fled, each to his own field. 
So I confronted the deputies and said, “Why has the house of God been neglected?” Then I gathered the workers and restored them to their posts. 
All Judah brought the tithe of grain, new wine, and oil to the storehouses. 
I appointed Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah from the Levites over the storehouses, with Hanan son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, as their assistant. They were considered faithful, and their responsibility was to distribute the portions to their brothers. 
Remember me for this, my God, and do not blot out my acts of faithfulness that I have done for the house of my God and its service. 
In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath, bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, along with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, and bringing them into Jerusalem on the Sabbath. I warned them on the day they sold provisions. 
People from Tyre who lived there brought fish and all kinds of merchandise and sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah, in Jerusalem itself. 
So I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day? 
Did not your ancestors do the same, so that our God brought all this disaster on us and on this city? Yet you are adding to the wrath against Israel by profaning the Sabbath!” 
As the gates of Jerusalem began to fall into shadow before the Sabbath, I gave orders for the doors to be shut. I ordered that they not be opened until after the Sabbath. I stationed some of my servants at the gates so that no load would be brought in on the Sabbath day. 
The merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem once or twice. 
But I warned them and said, “Why are you spending the night in front of the wall? If you do it again, I will lay hands on you!” From that time on they no longer came on the Sabbath. 
I told the Levites to purify themselves and come guard the gates to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember this also in my favor, my God, and spare me according to your abundant faithful love. 
In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. 
Their children, half of whom spoke the language of Ashdod, did not know how to speak the language of Judah, but spoke the language of their respective people. 
I confronted them, cursed them, struck some of the men, and pulled out their hair. I made them swear by God: “You must not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. 
Did not Solomon king of Israel sin in these matters? Among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Yet even he was led into sin by foreign women. 
Must we hear that you are doing all this great evil, acting unfaithfully toward our God by marrying foreign women?” 
One of the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib the high priest was the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite, so I drove him away from me. 
Remember them, my God, for defiling the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites. 
I purified them from everything foreign and established service divisions for the priests and Levites, each in his own work. 
I also made arrangements for the wood offering at the appointed times and for the firstfruits. Remember me for good, my God. 
