Nehemiah 13:1–9

Principles of Separation

13On that day ^athey read from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people, and in it was found written ^bthat no Ammonite or Moabite should ever come into the assembly of God, ²because they had not met the children of Israel with bread and water, but ^chired Balaam against them to curse them. ^dHowever, our God turned the curse into a blessing. ³So it was, when they had heard the Law, ^ethat they separated all the mixed multitude from Israel.

The Reforms of Nehemiah

⁴Now before this, ^fEliashib the priest, having authority over the storerooms of the house of our God, was allied with ^gTobiah. ⁵And he had prepared for him a large room, ^hwhere previously they had stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, the articles, the tithes of grain, the new wine and oil, ⁱwhich were commanded to be given to the Levites and singers and gatekeepers, and the offerings for the priests. ⁶But during all this I was not in Jerusalem, ^jfor in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Then after certain days I obtained leave from the king, ⁷and I came to Jerusalem and discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, in ^kpreparing a room for him in the courts of the ¹house of God. ⁸And it grieved me bitterly; therefore I threw all the household goods of Tobiah out of the room. ⁹Then I commanded them to ^lcleanse the rooms; and I brought back into them the articles of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense.