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1 On that day it was read in the scroll of Moses, in the ears of the people, and it was found to be written in it, that no Ammonite or Moabite shall enter into the assembly of God, forever.
2 For they had not met the sons of Israel with bread and with water, and they had hired Balaam against them to curse them. But our God turned the curse into a blessing.
3 And so it was, when they heard the law, they separated everyone of mixed descent from Israel.
4 Now before this Eliashib the priest, related to Tobiah, was appointed over the storerooms in the house of our God;
5 And he made for him a large room. And it was where previously they put offerings: the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the grain, the wine, and the purified oil, instructed for the Levites, and the singers, and the gatekeepers; and the contributions for the priests.
6 And in all this I was not in Jerusalem. For in the thirty- second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went to the king. And at the end of the days I asked leave from the king,
7 and I came to Jerusalem. Then I understood about the evil that Eliashib had done with Tobiah by making for him a storeroom in the courts of the house of God.
8 And my anger came upon me exceedingly and I threw all the furnishings of the house of Tobiah out from the storeroom.
9 And I gave orders, and they purified the storerooms, and I put back in them the articles of the house of God, the offerings, and the incense.
10 And I learned that the assigned portions of the Levites had not been given, and they— the Levites and the singers doing the work— had been driven away, each man to his own field.
11 And I rebuked the officials and I said, “Why is the house of God neglected?” And I assembled them and I stationed them at their posts.
12 Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain, and the wine, and the oil to the storerooms.
13 And I set as treasurers over the treasuries Shelemiah the priest and Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah from the Levites. On their hand was Hanan son of Zaccur son of Mattaniah, for they were counted as trustworthy. And it was theirs to apportion to their brothers.
14 Remember me, my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and in his services.
15 And in those days I saw in Judah ones treading the winepresses on the Sabbath, and ones bringing in threshed grain, and ones loading onto donkeys also wine, grapes, and figs, and all kinds of loads, and bringing them into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I protested selling provisions on that day.
16 And the Tyrians living in her brought in fish and all kinds of things to sell, and they sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah and in Jerusalem!
17 So I confronted the leaders of Judah, and I said to them, “What is this evil thing which you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day?
18 Did not your fathers do this? And our God brought all this evil on us and on this city! And you are increasing wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.”
19 And so it was, that the gates of Jerusalem grew shadowed before the Sabbath, and I commanded that the doors should be shut, and I commanded that they should not open them until after the Sabbath. And I stationed some from my servants at the gates; no load could enter on the Sabbath day.
20 And the traders and merchants of all kinds of wares camped outside Jerusalem once or twice.
21 And I warned them, and I said to them, “Why do you camp in front of the wall? If you repeat, I will put a hand on you!” From that time they did not come on the Sabbath.
22 And I said to the Levites that they should purify themselves, and come to guard the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day. Also remember me for this, my God, and have mercy on me because of your great faithful love.
23 In those days I also saw Jews that were living with Ashdodite, Ammonite, Moabite women.
24 And their sons— half spoke Ashdodite, and none of them recognized the language of Judah— but only the tongue of other peoples.
25 I rebuked them, and I cursed them, and I struck some men of them, and pulled out their hair. Then I made them swear an oath by God, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take from their daughters for your sons, nor for yourselves.”
26 Was it not in these Solomon king of Israel sinned? And among many nations there was no king like him, and he was loved by his God, and God gave him kingship over all Israel. But foreign women caused even him to sin.
27 And should we listen to you and do all this great evil, to offend our God by dwelling with foreign women?”
28 One of the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib the high priest was son- in- law to Sanballat the Horonite. So I drove him away from me.
29 Remember them, my God, for defiling the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.
30 And I cleansed them from everything foreign, and I made assignments for the priests and for the Levites, a man to his own work,
31 and the wood offering at the appointed time, and the firstfruits. Remember me, my God, for good.
The Book of Nehemiah