¹On that day the Book of Moses was read while the people were listening. They heard the passage that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be admitted into God’s assembly. ²(After all, they didn’t welcome the Israelites with food and water. Instead, they hired Balaam to curse the Israelites. But our God turned the curse into a blessing.) ³After the people heard this Teaching, they separated the non-Israelites from the Israelites.

⁴Even before this, the priest Eliashib, who was related to Tobiah and had been put in charge of the storerooms of our God’s temple, ⁵had provided a large room for Tobiah. Previously, this room had been used to store grain offerings, incense, utensils, a tenth of all the grain harvested, new wine, and olive oil. These things belonged by law to the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers. The contributions for the priests had also been stored there.

Nehemiah Evicts Tobiah from the Temple

⁶While all of this was taking place, I wasn’t in Jerusalem. In the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes’ reign in Babylon, I returned to the king.Later, I asked the king for permission to return. ⁷I went to Jerusalem and discovered the evil thing Eliashib had done by providing Tobiah with a room in God’s temple. ⁸I was furious. So I threw all of Tobiah’s household goods out of the room. ⁹Then I told them to cleanse the rooms, and I put back in there the utensils from God’s temple, the offerings, and the incense.

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