Nehemiah 13

1 One day when the Book of Moses was being read to the people, the section was found where it was written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be allowed into the assembly of God,

On that day, when someone read to the people parts of the laws [that God gave] to Moses, they read where it was written that no one from the Ammon people-group or the Moab people-group was ever to be allowed to be with God’s people while they were gathered together [to worship].

2 because they hadn't brought food and water when they met the Israelites, but instead they had hired Balaam to put a curse on them—though our God turned that curse into a blessing!

The reason for that was that the people of Ammon and the people of Moab did not give/sell any food or water to the Israelis [while the Israelis were going through their areas after they left Egypt]. Instead, the people of Ammon and Moab paid money to Balaam in order that he would curse the Israelis. But God commanded Balaam to bless the people, not to curse them.

3 When the people heard about this law, they separated out from Israel everyone who had foreign ancestry.

So when the people heard these laws [being read to them], they sent away all the people whose ancestors had come from other countries.

4 Before all this, Eliashib the priest, who was related to Tobiah, had been put in charge of the storerooms of the Temple of our God.

Previously, Eliashib the priest had been appointed to be in charge of the storerooms in the temple. He was a relative of [our enemy] Tobiah.

5 He had provided Tobiah with a large room which had previously been used to store the grain offerings, incense, and Temple items, as well as the tithes of grain, new wine, and olive oil allocated to the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, in addition to the offerings for the priests.

He allowed Tobiah to use a large room in which they had previously stored the grain offerings and the incense, the equipment that is used in the temple, the offerings [that the people had brought] for the priests, and the tithes of grain and wine and [olive] oil that [God] had commanded the people to bring to the [other] descendants of Levi, and to the temple musicians, and to the temple guards.

6 When all this happened I was not in Jerusalem because I had returned to King Artaxerxes of Babylon in the thirty-second year of his reign. Some time later I requested permission from the king to go back.

While [Tobias was using that room], I was not in Jerusalem, because in the 32nd year that Artaxerxes was the king of Babylonia, I went back there to report to him. After a while I requested the king to allow me to return to Jerusalem, [and he allowed me to go].

7 When I arrived back in Jerusalem I discovered the dreadful thing Eliashib had done in providing Tobiah a room in the courtyard of God's Temple.

When I arrived in Jerusalem, I found out that Eliashib had done an evil thing by allowing Tobiah to use a room in God’s temple.

8 I was extremely upset, and I went and threw out everything that was in Tobiah's room.

I became very angry, and I threw out of that room everything that belonged to Tobiah.

9 I ordered the rooms purified, and put back the Temple items, the grain offerings, and the incense.

Then I commanded [that they perform a ritual] to make the rooms (pure/acceptable to God) again. And I also ordered that all the equipment used in the temple and all the grain offerings and incense should be put in that room again.

10 I also found out that the food allowances for the Levites were not being provided, so the Levites had gone back to take care of their fields, along with the singers who led the worship services.

I also found out that the temple musicians and [other] descendants of Levi had left Jerusalem and returned to their fields/farms, because the Israeli people had not been bringing to them the food [that they needed].

11 I went and confronted the leaders, asking, “Why is God's Temple being neglected?” I called the Levites back and made sure they were carrying out their responsibilities.

So I rebuked the officials, saying to them, “(Why have you not taken care of the work in the temple?/It is disgraceful that you have not taken care of the work in the temple.)” [RHQ] So I brought the descendants of Levi and the musicians back to the temple, and told them to do their work there again.

12 Everyone in Judah then brought the tithes of grain, new wine, and olive oil into the storerooms.

Then all the people of Judah again started to bring to the temple storerooms their tithes of grain, wine, and [olive] oil.

13 I put Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah, one of the Levites, in charge of the storerooms with Hanan, son of Zakkur, son of Mattaniah, to assist them, because they were considered honest people. Their responsibility was to distribute the allowances to their fellow Levites.

I appointed these men to be in charge of the storerooms: Shelemiah, who was a priest; Zadok, who knew the Jewish laws very well; and Pedaiah, a descendant of Levi. I appointed Hanan, who is the son of Zaccur and grandson of Mattaniah, to assist them. I knew that I could trust these men while they distributed those offerings to their fellow workers.

14 My God, please remember me over this. Please don't forget my good deeds I have done for the Temple of my God and its services.

My God, do not forget all these good things that I have faithfully done for your temple and for the work that is done there!

15 Around that time I noticed people treading the winepress on Sabbath. I saw others collecting grain and loading it up on donkeys, along with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of burdens, and bringing it all into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day.

During that time, I saw some people in Judea [who were working] on the Sabbath day. [Some were] pressing grapes [to make wine]. Others were putting grain, [bags of] wine, [baskets of] grapes, figs, and many [HYP] other things, on their donkeys and taking them into Jerusalem. I warned them that they should not sell things to the people of Judea on Sabbath days.

16 I told them off for selling their produce on that day.

I also saw some people from Tyre [city] who were living there in Jerusalem who were bringing fish and other things [into Jerusalem] to sell to the people of Judea on the Sabbath day.

17 Some people from Tyre who lived in Jerusalem were bringing in fish and all kinds of things and they were selling them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah in Jerusalem.

So I rebuked the Jewish leaders and told them, “This is [RHQ] a very evil thing that you are doing! You are causing the Sabbath days to be unholy.

18 I confronted the Jewish leaders, asking them, “Why are you are doing such an evil thing? You are violating the Sabbath day! Wasn't this what your forefathers did, bringing our God down on us, causing us and this city such disasters? Now you're bringing even more trouble on us by violating the Sabbath!”

Your ancestors did [RHQ] things like that, so God punished them, and as a result, this city was destroyed! And now by causing the Sabbath day to be unholy, you are going to cause God to be angry with us Israeli people [and punish us] more!”

19 So I ordered Jerusalem's gates to be shut at sunset on the day before the Sabbath, and that were not to be opened until after the Sabbath had ended. I assigned some of my men to guard the gates to make sure no goods would be brought in on the Sabbath day.

So I ordered that at (the beginning of every Sabbath day/every Friday evening) they should shut the gates of the city before it became dark. I also ordered that they should not open the gates until (the Sabbath day was ended [the next day]/Saturday evening). Then [each Sabbath day] I put some of my men at the gates, so they would make sure that nothing to sell was brought into the city on that day.

20 A couple of times merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside of Jerusalem.

One or two times merchants [DOU] stayed outside of the city on (Friday night/[the night before the Sabbath day]).

21 I warned them, saying, “Why are you spending the night by the wall? If you do that again I'll have you arrested!” After that they didn't come on the Sabbath.

I warned them, “It is useless [RHQ] for you to stay here outside the walls [on Friday night]! If you do this again, I will tell my men to arrest you!” So after that, they did not come on Sabbath days.

22 Then I told the Levites to purify themselves and to come and guard the gates to keep the Sabbath day holy. My God, please also remember me for doing this, and be merciful to me because of your trustworthy love.

I also commanded the descendants of Levi to [perform the ritual to] purify themselves and to guard the city gates, to make sure that the Sabbath was kept holy [by not allowing merchants to enter it on Sabbath days]. My God, do not forget this also that I [have done for you]! And because of your faithfully loving me, allow me to continue to live [many more years]!

23 Around the same time I realized some Jews had married women from Ashdod, Moab, and Ammon.

During that time, I also found out that many of the Jewish men had married women from Ashdod [city], and from [the] Ammon and Moab [people-groups].

24 Half their children could only speak the language of Ashdod or that of another people, and didn't know how to speak the language of Judah.

The result was that half of their children spoke the language that people in Ashdod speak or some other language, and they didn’t know how to speak our language.

25 So I confronted them and told them they were cursed. I beat some of them and pulled out their hair. Then I made them take an oath before God, saying, “You must not allow your daughters to marry their sons, or allow your sons—or yourselves— to marry their daughters.

So I rebuked those men, and I [asked God to] curse them, and I beat them and pulled out [some of] their hair. Then I forced them to solemnly promise, knowing that God [MTY] was [listening], that they would never again marry foreigners, and never allow their children to marry foreigners.

26 Wasn't it marriages like these that made King Solomon of Israel sin? There wasn't a king in any nation like him. God loved him, and God made him king over all Israel, but even he was made to sin by foreign women.

[I said to them], “Solomon, the king of Israel, sinned [RHQ] as a result of [marrying] foreign women. He was greater than any of the kings of other nations. God loved him, and caused him to become the king of all the Israeli people, but his foreign wives caused even him to sin.

27 So do we have to hear about you committing this dreadful sin, how you are being unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women?”

[Do you think that] we should do what you have done, and disobey our God by marrying foreign women [who worship idols]? [RHQ]”

28 Even one of the sons of Jehoiada, son of Eliashib the high priest, had become a son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite. So I expelled him.

One of the sons of Jehoiada, the son of Eliashib the Supreme Priest, had married the daughter of [our enemy] Sanballat, from Beth-Horon [town]. So I forced Jehoiada’s son to leave Jerusalem.

29 My God, remember them and what they did, violating the priesthood and the solemn agreement of the priests and Levites.

My God, do not forget that those people [who have married foreign women] have caused it to be a shame/disgrace to be a priest, and have caused people to despise the agreement that you made with the priests and with the [other] descendants of Levi [who help the priests])!

30 I purified them from everything foreign, and I made sure the priests and Levites were carrying out their assigned responsibilities.

I did all that to make sure that there were no more foreign people among the [Israeli] people [who would encourage them to worship idols]. I also established regulations for the priests and [other] descendants of Levi, in order that they would know what work they should do.

31 I also arranged for wood to be supplied for the altar at the specified times, and for the first part of the produce to be donated. My God, remember me favorably.

I also arranged for people to bring the firewood [that was needed to burn on the altar, as Moses had declared] that we should [do]. I also arranged for the people to bring the first part of what they harvested [each year]. My God, do not forget [that] I [have done all these things], and bless me [for doing them]!