Nehemiah 13
1 in/on/with day [the] he/she/it to call: read out in/on/with scroll: book Moses in/on/with ear: hearing [the] people and to find to write in/on/with him which not to come (in): come Ammon and Moabite in/on/with assembly [the] God till forever: enduring
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 for not to meet [obj] son: descendant/people Israel in/on/with food: bread and in/on/with water and to hire upon him [obj] Balaam to/for to lighten him and to overturn God our [the] curse to/for 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 and to be like/as to hear: hear they [obj] [the] instruction and to separate all racial-mix from Israel
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 and to/for face: before from this Eliashib [the] priest to give: put in/on/with chamber house: temple God our near to/for Tobiah
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 and to make to/for him chamber great: large and there to be to/for face: before to give: put [obj] [the] offering [the] frankincense and [the] article/utensil and tithe [the] grain [the] new wine and [the] oil commandment [the] Levi and [the] to sing and [the] gatekeeper and contribution [the] priest
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 and in/on/with all this not to be in/on/with Jerusalem for in/on/with year thirty and two to/for Artaxerxes king Babylon to come (in): come to(wards) [the] king and to/for end day to ask from [the] king
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 and to come (in): come to/for Jerusalem and to understand [emph?] in/on/with distress: evil which to make: do Eliashib to/for Tobiah to/for to make to/for him chamber in/on/with court house: temple [the] God
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 and be evil to/for me much and to throw [emph?] [obj] all article/utensil house: home Tobiah [the] outside from [the] chamber
I became very angry, and I threw out of that room everything that belonged to Tobiah.
9 and to say [emph?] and be pure [the] chamber and to return: return [emph?] there article/utensil house: temple [the] God [obj] [the] offering and [the] frankincense
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 and to know [emph?] for portion [the] Levi not to give: give and to flee man: anyone to/for land: country his [the] Levi and [the] to sing to make: do [the] work
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 and to contend [emph?] with [the] ruler and to say [emph?] why? to leave: neglect house: temple [the] God and to gather them and to stand: stand them upon post their
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 and all Judah to come (in): bring tithe [the] grain and [the] new wine and [the] oil to/for treasure
Then all the people of Judah again started to bring to the temple storerooms their tithes of grain, wine, and [olive] oil.
13 and to store [emph?] upon treasure Shelemiah [the] priest and Zadok [the] secretary and Pedaiah from [the] Levi and upon hand: to their Hanan son: child Zaccur son: child Mattaniah for be faithful to devise: count and upon them to/for to divide to/for brother: male-relative their
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 to remember [emph?] to/for me God my upon this and not to wipe kindness my which to make: do in/on/with house: temple God my and in/on/with custody his
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 in/on/with day [the] they(masc.) to see: see in/on/with Judah to tread wine press in/on/with Sabbath and to come (in): bring [the] heap and to lift upon [the] donkey and also wine grape and fig and all burden and to come (in): bring Jerusalem in/on/with day [the] Sabbath and to testify in/on/with day to sell they food
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 and [the] Tyrian to dwell in/on/with her to come (in): bring fish and all merchandise and to sell in/on/with Sabbath to/for son: descendant/people Judah and in/on/with Jerusalem
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 and to contend [emph?] with noble Judah and to say [emph?] to/for them what? [the] word: thing [the] bad: evil [the] this which you(m. p.) to make: do and to profane/begin: profane [obj] day [the] Sabbath
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 not thus to make: do father your and to come (in): bring God our upon us [obj] all [the] distress: harm [the] this and upon [the] city [the] this and you(m. p.) to add burning anger upon Israel to/for to profane/begin: profane [obj] [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 and to be like/as as which to shade gate Jerusalem to/for face: before [the] Sabbath and to say [emph?] and to shut [the] door and to say [emph?] which not to open them till after [the] Sabbath and from youth my to stand: stand upon [the] gate not to come (in): come burden in/on/with day [the] Sabbath
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 and to lodge [the] to trade and to sell all sale from outside to/for Jerusalem beat and two
One or two times merchants [DOU] stayed outside of the city on (Friday night/[the night before the Sabbath day]).
21 and to testify [emph?] in/on/with them and to say [emph?] to(wards) them why? you(m. p.) to lodge before [the] wall if to repeat hand to send: reach in/on/with you from [the] time [the] he/she/it not to come (in): come in/on/with 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 and to say [emph?] to/for Levi which to be be pure and to come (in): come to keep: guard [the] gate to/for to consecrate: consecate [obj] day [the] Sabbath also this to remember [emph?] to/for me God my and to pity [emph?] upon me like/as abundance kindness your
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 also in/on/with day [the] they(masc.) to see: see [obj] [the] Jew to dwell woman (Ashdod Ammon *Q(k)*) Moabite
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 and son: child their half to speak: speak Ashdod and nothing they to recognize to/for to speak: speak Judahite and like/as tongue: language people and people
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 and to contend with them and to lighten them and to smite from them human and to smooth them and to swear them in/on/with God if: surely no to give: give(marriage) daughter your to/for son: child their and if: surely no to lift: marry from daughter their to/for son: child your and to/for you
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 not upon these to sin Solomon king Israel and in/on/with nation [the] many not to be king like him and to love: lover to/for God his to be and to give: make him God king upon all Israel also [obj] him to sin [the] woman [the] foreign
[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 and to/for you to hear: hear to/for to make: do [obj] all [the] distress: evil [the] great: large [the] this to/for be unfaithful in/on/with God our to/for to dwell woman foreign
[Do you think that] we should do what you have done, and disobey our God by marrying foreign women [who worship idols]? [RHQ]”
28 and from son: child Joiada son: child Eliashib [the] priest [the] great: large son-in-law to/for Sanballat [the] Horonite and to flee him from upon me
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 to remember [emph?] to/for them God my upon defilement [the] priesthood and covenant [the] priesthood and [the] Levi
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 and be pure them from all foreign and to stand: appoint [emph?] charge to/for priest and to/for Levi man: anyone in/on/with work his
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 and to/for offering [the] tree: wood in/on/with time to appoint and to/for firstfruit to remember [emph?] to/for me God my to/for welfare
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]!
