Chapter 13

Foreigners Excluded

1 On that day athey read aloud from the book of Moses in the hearing of the people; and there was found written in it that bno Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God,

2 because they did not meet the sons of Israel with bread and water, but ahired Balaam against them to curse them. However, bour God turned the curse into a blessing.

3 So when they heard the law, athey excluded ball foreigners from Israel.

Tobiah Expelled and the Temple Cleansed

4 Now prior to this, Eliashib the priest, awho was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, being 1related to bTobiah,

5 had prepared a large 1room for him, where formerly they put the grain offerings, the frankincense, the utensils and the tithes of grain, wine and oil aprescribed for the Levites, the singers and the gatekeepers, and the 2contributions for the priests.

6 But during all this time I was not in Jerusalem, for in athe thirty-second year of bArtaxerxes king of Babylon I had gone to the king. After some time, however, I asked leave from the king,

7 and I came to Jerusalem and 1learned about the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, aby preparing a 2room for him in the courts of the house of God.

8 It was very displeasing to me, so I athrew all of Tobiah’s household goods out of the room.

9 Then I gave an order and athey cleansed the rooms; and I returned there the utensils of the house of God with the grain offerings and the frankincense.

Tithes Restored

10 I also 1discovered that athe portions of the Levites had not been given them, so that the Levites and the singers who performed the service had 2gone away, beach to his own field.

11 So I 1areprimanded the officials and said, “bWhy is the house of God forsaken?” Then I gathered them together and restored them to their posts.

12 All Judah then brought athe tithe of the grain, wine and oil into the storehouses.

13 In charge of the storehouses I appointed Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, and in addition to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for athey were considered reliable, and it was 1their task to distribute to their 2kinsmen.

14 aRemember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out my loyal deeds which I have performed for the house of my God and its services.

Sabbath Restored

15 In those days I saw in Judah some who were treading wine presses aon the sabbath, and bringing in sacks of grain and loading them on donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, figs and all kinds of loads, band they brought them into Jerusalem on the sabbath day. So cI admonished them on the day they sold food.

16 Also men of Tyre were living 1there who imported fish and all kinds of merchandise, and sold them to the sons of Judah on the sabbath, even in Jerusalem.

17 Then aI 1reprimanded the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing you are doing, 2by profaning the sabbath day?

18 “aDid not your fathers do the same, so that our God brought on us and on this city all this trouble? Yet you are adding to the wrath on Israel by profaning the sabbath.”

19 aIt came about that just as it grew dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut 1and that they should not open them until after the sabbath. Then I stationed some of my servants at the gates so that no load would enter on the sabbath day.

20 Once or twice the traders and merchants of every kind of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem.

21 Then aI 1warned them and said to them, “Why do you spend the night in front of the wall? If you do so again, I will 2use force against you.” From that time on they did not come on the sabbath.

22 And I commanded the Levites that athey should purify themselves and come as gatekeepers to sanctify the sabbath day. For this also bremember me, O my God, and have compassion on me according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness.

Mixed Marriages Forbidden

23 In those days I also saw that the Jews had 1amarried women from bAshdod, cAmmon and Moab.

24 As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them was able to speak the language of Judah, but 1the language of his own people.

25 So aI contended with them and cursed them and bstruck some of them and pulled out their hair, and cmade them swear by God, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.

26 “aDid not Solomon king of Israel sin regarding these things? bYet among the many nations there was no king like him, and che was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless the foreign women caused even him to sin.

27 “1Do we then hear about you that you have committed all this great evil aby acting unfaithfully against our God by 2marrying foreign women?”

28 Even one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was a son-in-law of aSanballat the Horonite, so I drove him away from me.

29 aRemember them, O my God, 1because they have defiled the priesthood and the bcovenant of the priesthood and the Levites.

30 aThus I purified them from everything foreign and appointed duties for the priests and the Levites, each in his task,

31 and I arranged afor the supply of wood at appointed times and for the first fruits. bRemember me, O my God, for good.