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that day the Book of Moses was read publicly in the hearing of the people, and it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter into the assembly of God. 2 This was because they had not met the Israelites of the Exodus with food and water, but hired Balaam against them to place a curse on them, but our God turned the curse into a blessing. 3 When the people heard this law, they separated from Israel all who were of foreign descent.
4 Before this, Eliashib the priest had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God. He was a relative of Tobiah, 5 and he had provided Tobiah with a large room that had previously been used for storing the grain offerings, the frankincense, the temple utensils, and the tithes of grain, wine, and oil, prescribed for the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, as well as the contributions for the priests.
6 But while all this was taking place I was not in Jerusalem, because I had returned to Artaxerxes king of Babylon in the thirty-second year of his reign. After I had been there some time, I was granted leave of absence from the king, 7 and I returned to Jerusalem. It was only then that I discovered this evil thing that Eliashib had done in providing Tobiah with a room in the courts of the house of God. 8 I was greatly displeased and threw all of Tobiah’s household goods out of the room. 9 I gave orders for the rooms to be purified, and I put back the articles of the house of God, along with the grain offerings and frankincense.
10 I also learned that the portions assigned to the Levites had not been given to them, and that all of the Levites and the singers who performed the service had all gone back to their own fields. 11 So I rebuked the officials and asked them, “Why has the house of God been neglected?” Then I had gathered together the Levites and singers and I reinstated them back to their positions.
12 Then all Judah brought the tithes of grain, new wine and oil into the storehouses. 13 I appointed as treasurers over the storehouses Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, a Levite named Pedaiah, and Hanan son of Zaccur, the son of Mataniah to assist them, because these men were considered trustworthy. They were responsible for the distribution of the supplies to their brothers.
14 “Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not erase my good deeds that I have done for the temple of my God, and for its services.”
15 In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath. They were also bringing in stores of grain and loading them on donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, and figs. They were bringing all kinds of loads into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I warned them against selling food on that day. 16 Men from Tyre who lived in Jerusalem were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah.
17 I rebuked the nobles of Judah, and asked them, “What is this evil that you are doing—profaning the Sabbath day? 18 Didn’t your forefathers do the same thing, so that God brought all this disaster on us and on this city? Yet you are now stirring up even more wrath against Israel by profaning the Sabbath!”
19 When shadows began to fall on the gateways of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I gave orders for the gates to be shut and not reopened until after the Sabbath. Then I stationed some of my own men at the gates, so that no loads could be brought in on the Sabbath day.
20 Once or twice the merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem, 21 but I warned them and said, “Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you!” From that time on they did not come again on the Sabbath. 22 Then I commanded the Levites to purify themselves and go and guard the gates in order to sanctify the Sabbath day.
“Remember me for this also, O my God, and spare me according to the greatness of Your faithful love.”
23 At that time I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. 24 Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, or one of the other peoples but could not speak the language of Judah. 25 So I rebuked them and cursed them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair. I made them take an oath before God and said: “You must not give your daughters in marriage to their sons, nor are you to take their daughters as wives for your sons or yourselves! 26 Didn’t Solomon king of Israel sin because of marriages like this? Yet among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, yet foreign wives caused even him to sin. 27 Why then must we hear that you too are doing all this same terrible wrong, breaking faith with our God by marrying foreign women?”
28 One of the sons of Jehoiada son of Eliashib the high priest, had become the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite. So I drove him away from me.
29 “Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.”
30 So I purified the priests and the Levites from everything foreign, and assigned specific tasks to each of them. 31 I also arranged for the contributions of wood at the appointed times, and for the firstfruits.
“Remember me, O my God, with favour.”