Nehemiah 13 :: New International Version (NIV)

Nehemiah’s Final Reforms

(Num 22:1—24:25 )

Neh 13:1On that day the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people and there it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be admitted into the assembly of God,

Neh 13:2

Neh 13:2because they had not met the Israelites with food and water but had hired Balaam to call a curse down on them. (Our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing.)

Neh 13:3

Neh 13:3When the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all who were of foreign descent.

Neh 13:4

Neh 13:4Before this, Eliashib the priest had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God. He was closely associated with Tobiah,

Neh 13:5

Neh 13:5and he had provided him with a large room formerly used to store the grain offerings and incense and temple articles, and also the tithes of grain, new wine and olive oil prescribed for the Levites, musicians and gatekeepers, as well as the contributions for the priests.

Neh 13:6

Neh 13:6But while all this was going on, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Some time later I asked his permission

Neh 13:7

Neh 13:7and came back to Jerusalem. Here I learned about the evil thing Eliashib had done in providing Tobiah a room in the courts of the house of God.

Neh 13:8

Neh 13:8I was greatly displeased and threw all Tobiah’s household goods out of the room.

Neh 13:9

Neh 13:9I gave orders to purify the rooms, and then I put back into them the equipment of the house of God, with the grain offerings and the incense.

Neh 13:10

Neh 13:10I also learned that the portions assigned to the Levites had not been given to them, and that all the Levites and musicians responsible for the service had gone back to their own fields.

Neh 13:11

Neh 13:11So I rebuked the officials and asked them, “Why is the house of God neglected?” Then I called them together and stationed them at their posts.

Neh 13:12

Neh 13:12All Judah brought the tithes of grain, new wine and olive oil into the storerooms.

Neh 13:13

Neh 13:13I put Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and a Levite named Pedaiah in charge of the storerooms and made Hanan son of Zakkur, the son of Mattaniah, their assistant, because they were considered trustworthy. They were made responsible for distributing the supplies to their fellow Levites.

Neh 13:14

Neh 13:14Remember me for this, my God, and do not blot out what I have so faithfully done for the house of my God and its services.

Neh 13:15

Neh 13:15In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, together with wine, grapes, figs and all other kinds of loads. And they were bringing all this into Jerusalem on the Sabbath. Therefore I warned them against selling food on that day.

Neh 13:16

Neh 13:16People from Tyre who lived in Jerusalem were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them in Jerusalem on the Sabbath to the people of Judah.

Neh 13:17

Neh 13:17I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this wicked thing you are doing—desecrating the Sabbath day?

Neh 13:18

Neh 13:18Didn’t your ancestors do the same things, so that our God brought all this calamity on us and on this city? Now you are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath.”

Neh 13:19

Neh 13:19When evening shadows fell on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered the doors to be shut and not opened until the Sabbath was over. I stationed some of my own men at the gates so that no load could be brought in on the Sabbath day.

Neh 13:20

Neh 13:20Once or twice the merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem.

Neh 13:21

Neh 13:21But I warned them and said, “Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you do this again, I will arrest you.” From that time on they no longer came on the Sabbath.

Neh 13:22

Neh 13:22Then I commanded the Levites to purify themselves and go and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember me for this also, my God, and show mercy to me according to your great love.

Neh 13:23

Neh 13:23Moreover, in those days I saw men of Judah who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab.

Neh 13:24

Neh 13:24Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples, and did not know how to speak the language of Judah.

Neh 13:25

Neh 13:25I rebuked them and called curses down on them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair. I made them take an oath in God’s name and said: “You are not to give your daughters in marriage to their sons, nor are you to take their daughters in marriage for your sons or for yourselves.

Neh 13:26

Neh 13:26Was it not because of marriages like these that Solomon king of Israel sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, but even he was led into sin by foreign women.

Neh 13:27

Neh 13:27Must we hear now that you too are doing all this terrible wickedness and are being unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women?”

Neh 13:28

Neh 13:28One of the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib the high priest was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite. And I drove him away from me.

Neh 13:29

Neh 13:29Remember them, my God, because they defiled the priestly office and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.

Neh 13:30

Neh 13:30So I purified the priests and the Levites of everything foreign, and assigned them duties, each to his own task.

Neh 13:31

Neh 13:31I also made provision for contributions of wood at designated times, and for the firstfruits. Remember me with favor, my God.

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Nehemiah Chapter 13 — Additional Translations:

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Nehemiah 13 :: New International Version (NIV)

Nehemiah’s Final Reforms

Nehemiah Chapter 13 — Additional Translations:

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