CHAPTER 13

¹On that day it was read out from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people, and it was found written there that no Ammonite or Moabite should come into God’s assembly for all time. ²For they had not welcomed the Israelites with bread and with water and had hired against them Balaam to curse them, but God turned the curse into blessing. ³And it happened, when they heard the Teaching, they separated all the mixed multitude from Israel. ⁴And before this, Eliashib the priest was stationed in the chamber of the house of our God close to Tobiah. ⁵And he made for him a large chamber, and there formerly they would bring the grain offering, the frankincense, and the vessels and the tithe of grain and of wine and of oil, which were commanded for the Levites and for the choristers and for the gatekeepers and for the donation for the priests. ⁶And with all this, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylonia I had come to the king, and after a period of time I asked leave from the king. ⁷And I came to Jerusalem and perceived the evil thing Eliashib had done concerning Tobiah, to make for him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. ⁸And I was much aggrieved, and I flung all the vessels of Tobiah’s house outside the chamber. ⁹And I said that the chambers should be purified, and I brought back there the vessels of the house of God, the grain offering, and the frankincense. ¹⁰And I realized that the Levites’ portions had not been given, and that the Levites and the choristers, those who performed the tasks, had fled each to his own field. ¹¹And I rebuked the officials and said, “Why has the house of God been abandoned?” And I gathered them and stood them in their stations. ¹²And all Judah brought the tithe of grain and of wine and of oil to the treasuries. ¹³And I charged over the treasuries Shelemiah the priest and Zadok the scribe and Pedaiah of the Levites, and alongside them Hanan son of Zaccur son of Mattaniah, for they were deemed trustworthy, and it was their duty to share out portions to their brothers. ¹⁴Recall this for me, O my God, and do not wipe away my faithful acts that I did in the house of my God and on its watches! ¹⁵In those days I saw in Judah people treading winepresses on the sabbath and bringing stacks of grain and loading them on donkeys and also wine, grapes and figs, and all sorts of loads, and bringing them to Jerusalem on the sabbath day, and I castigated them on the day for selling provisions. ¹⁶And the Tyrians who lived there were bringing fish and all sorts of wares and selling them on the sabbath to the Judahites in Jerusalem. ¹⁷And I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the sabbath day? ¹⁸Did not your fathers do thus, and our God brought down upon us and upon this city all this evil? And you compound fury against Israel, profaning the sabbath.” ¹⁹And it happened when the gates of Jerusalem fell into shadow before the sabbath that I said that the doors should be shut, and I said that they should not open them till after the sabbath. ²⁰And I stationed some of my lads by the gates, that no load should enter on the sabbath day. ²¹And the merchants and those who sold all kinds of wares spent the night outside Jerusalem, once and a second time. ²²And I castigated them and said to them, “Why do you spend the night in front of the wall? If you do it again, I will lay hands on you.” From that time they did not come on the sabbath. ²³And I said to the Levites that they should purify themselves and come to guard the gates to hallow the sabbath day. This, too, recall for me, O my God, and pity me according to Your great kindness! ²⁴In those days, too, I saw that Jews had settled in their homes Ashdodite, Ammonite, and Moabite women. ²⁵And their children, half were speaking Ashdodite and the language of every people and did not know how to speak Judahite. ²⁶And I rebuked them and cursed them and flogged them and tore their hair and made them swear by God—”that you shall not give your daughters to their sons and shall not take of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. ²⁷Did not Solomon king of Israel offend in these matters? And among many nations there was no king like him. Beloved by his God he was, and God made him king over all Israel. Even him did the foreign wives lead to offend. ²⁸And to you shall we listen, to do this great evil to betray our God to settle foreign women in your homes?” ²⁹And one of the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib the high-priest was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite, and I sent him chasing from me. ³⁰Recall it against them, O my God, for the defilements of the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites! ³¹And I purified them of all foreignness and set up watches for the priests and for the Levites, each man at his task, ³²and for the offering of wood at set times and for the first fruits. Recall it for me, O my God, for good!