Nehemiah 9-13

New American Standard Bible

The People Confess Their Sin

9 Now on the twenty-fourth day of ^(A)this month the sons of Israel assembled ^(B)with fasting, in sackcloth and with ^(C)dirt upon them. ²The ^[a]^(D)descendants of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and they stood and ^(E)confessed their sins and the wrongdoings of their fathers. ³While ^(F)they stood in their place, they read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God. ⁴^(G)Now on the Levites’ platform stood Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and they cried out with a loud voice to the Lord their God.

⁵Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah said, “Arise, bless the Lord your God forever and ever!

May Your glorious name be blessed
And exalted above all blessing and praise!
⁶^(H)You alone are the Lord.
^(I)You have made the heavens,
The heaven of heavens with all their ^[b]lights,
The earth and everything that is on it,
The seas and everything that is in them.
^(J)You give life to all of them,
And the heavenly ^[c]lights bow down before You.
⁷You are the Lord God,
^(K)Who chose Abram
And brought him out from ^(L)Ur of the Chaldees,
And ^(M)gave him the name Abraham.
⁸You found ^(N)his heart faithful before You,
And made a covenant with him
To give him the land of the Canaanite,
Of the Hittite and the Amorite,
Of the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite—
To give it to his ^[d]descendants.
And You ^(O)have fulfilled Your ^[e]promise,
Because You are righteous.

⁹“^(P)You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt,
And ^(Q)heard their cry by the ^[f]Red Sea.
¹⁰Then You performed ^(R)signs and wonders against Pharaoh,
Against all his servants and all the people of his land;
For You knew that ^(S)they acted arrogantly toward them,
And You ^(T)made a name for Yourself as it is this day.
¹¹^(U)You divided the sea before them,
So they passed through the midst of the sea on dry ground;
And You hurled ^(V)their pursuers into the depths,
Like a stone into ^[g]raging waters.
¹²And with a pillar of cloud ^(W)You led them by day,
And with a pillar of fire by night
To light for them the way
In which they were to go.
¹³Then ^(X)You came down on Mount Sinai,
And ^(Y)spoke with them from heaven;
You gave them ^(Z)just ordinances and true laws,
Good statutes and commandments.
¹⁴So You made known to them ^(AA)Your holy Sabbath,
And gave them commandments, statutes, and law,
Through Your servant Moses.
¹⁵You ^(AB)provided bread from heaven for them for their hunger,
You ^(AC)brought out water from a rock for them for their thirst,
And You ^(AD)told them to enter in order to take possession of
The land which You ^[h]swore to give them.

¹⁶“But they, our fathers, ^(AE)acted arrogantly;
They ^[i]^(AF)became stubborn and would not listen to Your commandments.
¹⁷They refused to listen,
And ^(AG)did not remember Your wondrous deeds which You performed among them;
So they became stubborn and ^(AH)appointed a leader to return to their slavery in ^[j]Egypt.
But You are a God ^(AI)of forgiveness,
Gracious and compassionate,
Slow to anger and abounding in ^[k]mercy;
And You did not abandon them.
¹⁸Even when they ^(AJ)made for themselves
A calf of cast metal
And said, ‘This is your ^[l]god
Who brought you up from Egypt,’
And committed great blasphemies,
¹⁹^(AK)You, in Your great compassion,
Did not abandon them in the wilderness;
^(AL)The pillar of cloud did not leave them by day,
To guide them on their way,
Nor the pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they were to go.
²⁰Instead, ^(AM)You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them,
You did not withhold Your manna from their mouth,
And You gave them water for their thirst.
²¹Indeed, for ^(AN)forty years You provided for them in the wilderness and they were not lacking;
Their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell up.
²²You also gave them kingdoms and peoples,
And allotted them to them as a ^[m]boundary.
^(AO)They took possession of the land of Sihon ^[n]the king of Heshbon
And the land of Og the king of Bashan.
²³You made their sons as numerous as ^(AP)the stars of heaven,
And You brought them into the land
Which You had told their fathers to enter and possess.
²⁴^(AQ)So their sons entered and took possession of the land.
And ^(AR)You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites,
And You handed them over to them, with their kings and the peoples of the land,
To do with them ^[o]as they desired.
²⁵^(AS)They captured fortified cities and a ^[p]^(AT)fertile land.
They took possession of ^(AU)houses full of every good thing,
Carved out cisterns, vineyards, olive groves,
Fruit trees in abundance.
So they ate, were filled and ^(AV)put on fat,
And ^(AW)lived luxuriously in Your great goodness.

²⁶“^(AX)But they became rebellious and revolted against You,
And ^(AY)threw Your Law behind their backs
And ^(AZ)killed Your prophets who had ^(BA)admonished them
In order to bring them back to You,
And ^(BB)they committed great blasphemies.
²⁷Therefore You ^(BC)handed them over to their enemies who oppressed them,
But when they cried out to You ^(BD)in the time of their distress,
You heard from heaven, and according to Your great compassion
You ^(BE)gave them ^[q]people who saved them from the hand of their enemies.
²⁸But ^(BF)as soon as they had rest, they did evil again before You;
Therefore You abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they ruled over them.
When they cried out again to You, You heard from heaven,
And ^(BG)many times You rescued them according to Your compassion,
²⁹And ^(BH)admonished them in order to turn them back to Your Law.
Yet ^(BI)they acted arrogantly and did not listen to Your commandments but sinned against Your ordinances,
^(BJ)Which, if a person ^[r]follows them, then he will live by them.
And they ^[s]^(BK)turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck, and would not listen.
³⁰^(BL)However, You remained patient with them for many years,
And ^(BM)admonished them by ^(BN)Your Spirit through Your prophets,
Yet they would not listen.
Therefore You handed them over to the peoples of the lands.
³¹Nevertheless, in Your great compassion You ^(BO)did not make an end of them or abandon them,
For You are ^(BP)a gracious and compassionate God.

³²“Now then, our God, ^(BQ)the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps His covenant and faithfulness,
Do not let all the hardship seem insignificant before You,
Which has happened to us, our kings, our leaders, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and to all Your people,
^(BR)From the days of the kings of Assyria to this day.
³³However, ^(BS)You are righteous in everything that has happened to us;
For You have dealt faithfully, but we have acted wickedly.
³⁴For our kings, our leaders, our priests, and our fathers have not kept Your Law
Or paid attention to Your commandments and Your ^[t]admonitions with which You have ^[u]admonished them.
³⁵But ^(BT)they, in their own kingdom,
^(BU)With Your great goodness which You gave them,
With the broad and rich land which You placed before them,
Did not serve You or turn from their evil deeds.
³⁶Behold, ^(BV)we are slaves today,
And as for the land which You gave to our fathers to eat its fruit and its bounty,
Behold, we are slaves on it.
³⁷And ^(BW)its abundant produce is for the kings
Whom You have set over us because of our sins;
They also rule over our bodies
And over our cattle as they please,
So we are in great distress.

A Covenant Results

³⁸“^[v]Now because of all this
^(BX)We are making an agreement in writing;
And on the ^(BY)sealed document are the names of our leaders, our Levites, and our priests.”

Signers of the Document

10 ^[w]Now on the ^(BZ)sealed document were the names of: Nehemiah the ^[x]governor, the son of Hacaliah, and Zedekiah, ²Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, ³Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah, ⁴Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch, ⁵Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, ⁶Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch, ⁷Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, ⁸Maaziah, Bilgai, and Shemaiah. These were the priests. ⁹And the Levites: Jeshua the son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, and Kadmiel; ¹⁰also their brothers Shebaniah, Hodiah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan, ¹¹Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah, ¹²Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, ¹³Hodiah, Bani, and Beninu. ¹⁴The leaders of the people: Parosh, Pahath-moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani, ¹⁵Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, ¹⁶Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin, ¹⁷Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur, ¹⁸Hodiah, Hashum, Bezai, ¹⁹Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai, ²⁰Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir, ²¹Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua, ²²Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah, ²³Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub, ²⁴Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek, ²⁵Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah, ²⁶Ahiah, Hanan, Anan, ²⁷Malluch, Harim, and Baanah.

Obligations of the Document

²⁸Now ^(CA)the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and ^(CB)all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, all those who had knowledge and understanding, ²⁹are joining with their kinsmen, their nobles, and are ^[y]^(CC)taking on themselves a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law, which was given through Moses, God’s servant, and to keep and to ^[z]comply with all the commandments of ^[aa]God our Lord, and His ordinances and statutes; ³⁰and ^(CD)that we will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons. ³¹As ^(CE)for the peoples of the land who bring wares or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not ^[ab]buy from them on the Sabbath or on any holy day; and we will forgo the crops of the ^(CF)seventh year and ^[ac]^(CG)every debt.

³²We also imposed ^[ad]on ourselves the obligation to contribute yearly ^(CH)a third of a shekel for the service of the house of our God: ³³for the ^(CI)showbread, for the continual grain offering, for the continual burnt offering, the Sabbaths, the new moons, for the appointed times, for the holy things, and for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and all the work of the house of our God.

³⁴Likewise ^(CJ)we cast lots ^(CK)for the supply of wood among the priests, the Levites, and the people so that they could bring it to the house of our God, according to our fathers’ households, at set times annually, to burn on the altar of the Lord our God, as it is written in the Law; ³⁵and so that they could bring the first fruits of our ground and ^(CL)the first fruits of all the fruit of every tree to the house of the Lord annually, ³⁶and ^(CM)bring to the house of our God the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, and the firstborn of our herds and our flocks as it is written in the Law, for the priests who are ministering in the house of our God. ³⁷^(CN)We will also bring the first of our ^[ae]dough, our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the new wine, and the oil ^(CO)to the priests at the chambers of the house of our God, and the ^(CP)tithe of our ground to the Levites, for the Levites are they who receive the tithes in all the rural towns. ³⁸And ^(CQ)the priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive tithes, and the Levites shall bring up the tenth of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers of ^(CR)the storehouse. ³⁹For the sons of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the ^(CS)contribution of the grain, the new wine, and the oil to the chambers; the utensils of the sanctuary, the priests who are ministering, the gatekeepers, and the singers are there. So ^(CT)we will not ^[af]neglect the house of our God.

Time Passes; Heads of Provinces

11 Now ^(CU)the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem, but the rest of the people ^(CV)cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in Jerusalem, ^(CW)the holy city, while nine-tenths remained in the other cities. ²And the people blessed all the men who ^(CX)volunteered to live in Jerusalem.

³^(CY)Now these are the heads of the provinces who lived in Jerusalem, but in the cities of Judah ^(CZ)each lived on his own property in their cities—the ^[ag]Israelites, the priests, the Levites, the ^[ah]^(DA)temple servants, and the ^[ai]^(DB)descendants of Solomon’s servants. ⁴Some of the sons of Judah and some of the sons of Benjamin lived in Jerusalem. From the sons of Judah: Athaiah the son of Uzziah, the son of Zechariah, the son of Amariah, the son of Shephatiah, the son of Mahalalel, of the sons of Perez; ⁵and Maaseiah the son of Baruch, the son of Col-hozeh, the son of Hazaiah, the son of Adaiah, the son of Joiarib, the son of Zechariah, the son of the Shilonite. ⁶All the sons of Perez who lived in Jerusalem were 468 able men.

⁷Now these are the sons of Benjamin: Sallu the son of Meshullam, the son of Joed, the son of Pedaiah, the son of Kolaiah, the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ithiel, the son of Jeshaiah; ⁸and after him Gabbai and Sallai, 928. ⁹Joel the son of Zichri was their overseer, and Judah the son of Hassenuah was second ^[aj]in command of the city.

¹⁰From the priests: Jedaiah the son of Joiarib, Jachin, ¹¹Seraiah the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the overseer of the house of God, ¹²and their kinsmen who did the work of the ^[ak]temple, 822; and Adaiah the son of Jeroham, the son of Pelaliah, the son of Amzi, the son of Zechariah, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malchijah, ¹³and his kinsmen, heads of fathers’ households, 242; and Amashsai the son of Azarel, the son of Ahzai, the son of Meshillemoth, the son of Immer, ¹⁴and their brothers, valiant warriors, 128. And their overseer was Zabdiel, the son of ^[al]Haggedolim.

¹⁵Now from the Levites: Shemaiah the son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Bunni; ¹⁶and Shabbethai and Jozabad, from the ^[am]leaders of the Levites, who were ^[an]in charge of ^(DC)the outside work of the house of God; ¹⁷and Mattaniah the son of Mica, the son of ^[ao]Zabdi, the son of Asaph, who was the ^[ap]leader in beginning the thanksgiving at prayer, and Bakbukiah, the second among his kinsmen; and ^[aq]Abda the son of ^[ar]Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun. ¹⁸All the Levites in ^(DD)the holy city were 284.

¹⁹Also the gatekeepers: Akkub, Talmon, and their kinsmen who kept watch at the gates, were 172.

Outside Jerusalem

²⁰The rest of Israel, of the priests and of the Levites, were in all the cities of Judah, each ^(DE)on his own inheritance. ²¹But ^(DF)the temple servants were living in Ophel, and Ziha and Gishpa were ^[as]in charge of the temple servants.

²²Now ^(DG)the overseer of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi the son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Mica, from the sons of Asaph, who were the singers for the ^[at]service of the house of God. ²³^(DH)For there was a commandment from the king concerning them and a royal command for the singers ^(DI)day by day. ²⁴And Pethahiah the son of Meshezabel, of the sons ^(DJ)of Zerah the son of Judah, was the ^(DK)king’s ^[au]representative for every matter concerning the people.

²⁵Now as for the villages with their fields, some of the sons of Judah lived in ^(DL)Kiriath-arba and its ^[av]towns, in ^(DM)Dibon and its ^[aw]towns, and in Jekabzeel and its villages, ²⁶and in Jeshua, in Moladah, and Beth-pelet, ²⁷and in Hazar-shual, in Beersheba and its towns, ²⁸and in Ziklag, in Meconah and in its towns, ²⁹and in En-rimmon, in Zorah, and in Jarmuth, ³⁰Zanoah, Adullam, and their villages, Lachish and its fields, Azekah and its towns. So they camped from Beersheba as far as the Valley of Hinnom. ³¹The sons of Benjamin also lived from Geba onward, at Michmash and Aija, at Bethel and its towns, ³²at Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah, ³³Hazor, Ramah, Gittaim, ³⁴Hadid, Zeboim, Neballat, ³⁵Lod, and Ono, the Valley of Craftsmen. ³⁶And from the Levites, some divisions in Judah belonged to Benjamin.

Priests and Levites Who Returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel

12 Now these are ^(DN)the priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, ²Amariah, Malluch, Hattush, ³Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth, ⁴Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah, ⁵Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah, ⁶Shemaiah and Joiarib, Jedaiah, ⁷Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, and Jedaiah. These were the heads of the priests and their kinsmen in the days of Jeshua.

⁸And the Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah who was ^[ax]in charge of the songs of thanksgiving, he and his brothers. ⁹Also Bakbukiah and Unni, their brothers, stood opposite them ^(DO)in their service divisions. ¹⁰Jeshua fathered Joiakim, Joiakim fathered Eliashib, Eliashib fathered Joiada, ¹¹Joiada fathered Jonathan, and Jonathan fathered Jaddua.

¹²Now in the days of Joiakim, the priests, the heads of fathers’ households were: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah; ¹³of Ezra, Meshullam; of Amariah, Jehohanan; ¹⁴of ^[ay]Malluchi, Jonathan; of Shebaniah, Joseph; ¹⁵of Harim, Adna; of Meraioth, Helkai; ¹⁶of Iddo, Zechariah; of Ginnethon, Meshullam; ¹⁷of Abijah, Zichri; of Miniamin, of Moadiah, Piltai; ¹⁸of Bilgah, Shammua; of Shemaiah, Jehonathan; ¹⁹of Joiarib, Mattenai; of Jedaiah, Uzzi; ²⁰of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Eber; ²¹of Hilkiah, Hashabiah; and of Jedaiah, Nethanel.

The Chief Levites

²²As for the Levites, the heads of fathers’ households were registered in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, and Johanan, and Jaddua; so were the priests in the reign of Darius the Persian. ²³The sons of Levi, the heads of fathers’ households, were registered in the Book of the Chronicles up to the days of Johanan the son of Eliashib. ²⁴And the heads of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brothers opposite them, ^(DP)to praise and give thanks, ^[az]as prescribed by David the man of God, ^(DQ)division corresponding to division. ²⁵Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers keeping watch at ^(DR)the storerooms of the gates. ²⁶These men served in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and in the days of ^(DS)Nehemiah the governor and Ezra the priest and scribe.

Dedication of the Wall

²⁷Now at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought out the Levites from all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem so that they could celebrate the dedication with joy, with songs of thanksgiving and with songs ^(DT)to the accompaniment of cymbals, harps, and lyres. ²⁸So the sons of the singers were assembled from the territory around Jerusalem, and from ^(DU)the villages of the Netophathites, ²⁹from Beth-gilgal and from their fields in Geba and Azmaveth, because the singers had built themselves villages around Jerusalem. ³⁰The priests and the Levites ^(DV)purified themselves; they also purified the people, the gates, and the wall.

Procedures for the Temple

³¹Then I had the leaders of Judah come up on top of the wall, and I appointed two large ^[ba]choirs, ^[bb]^(DW)the first proceeding to the right on top of the wall toward ^(DX)the Dung Gate. ³²Hoshaiah and half of the leaders of Judah followed them, ³³with Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, ³⁴Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, Jeremiah, ³⁵and some of the sons of the priests with trumpets; and Zechariah the son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micaiah, the son of Zaccur, the son of Asaph, ³⁶and his kinsmen, Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani, ^(DY)with the musical instruments of David the man of God. And Ezra the scribe went before them. ³⁷At ^(DZ)the Fountain Gate they went directly up ^(EA)the steps of the city of David by the stairway of the wall, above the house of David to ^(EB)the Water Gate on the east.

³⁸^(EC)The second ^[bc]choir proceeded to the ^[bd]left, while I followed them with half of the people on the wall, ^(ED)above the Tower of Furnaces, to ^(EE)the Broad Wall, ³⁹and above ^(EF)the Gate of Ephraim, by ^(EG)the Ancient Gate, by the ^(EH)Fish Gate, ^(EI)the Tower of Hananel, and the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Sheep Gate; and they stopped at ^(EJ)the Gate of the Guard. ⁴⁰Then the two choirs took their positions in the house of God. So did I and half of the officials with me; ⁴¹and the priests, Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with the trumpets; ⁴²and Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer. And the singers ^[be]sang, with Jezrahiah their leader, ⁴³and on that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced because ^(EK)God had given them great joy, and the women and children rejoiced as well, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard from far away.

⁴⁴On that day ^(EL)men were also appointed over the chambers for the supplies, the contributions, the first fruits, and the tithes, to gather into them from the fields of the cities the portions required by the Law for the priests and Levites; for Judah rejoiced over the priests and the Levites who ^[bf]served. ⁴⁵For they performed the ^[bg]worship of their God and the service of purification, together with the singers and the gatekeepers ^(EM)in accordance with the command of David and of his son Solomon. ⁴⁶For in the days of David and ^(EN)Asaph, in ancient times, there were ^[bh]^(EO)leaders of the singers, songs of praise and songs of thanksgiving to God. ⁴⁷So all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah gave the portions due the singers and the gatekeepers ^(EP)as each day required, and they ^[bi]^(EQ)set apart the consecrated portion for the Levites, and the Levites ^[bj]set apart the consecrated portion for the sons of Aaron.

Foreigners Excluded

13 On that day the Book of Moses was ^(ER)read aloud ^[bk]as the people listened; and there was found written in it that ^(ES)no Ammonite or Moabite was ever to enter the assembly of God, ²because they did not meet the sons of Israel with bread and water, but ^(ET)hired Balaam against them to curse them. However, ^(EU)our God turned the curse into a blessing. ³So when they heard the Law, ^(EV)they excluded ^(EW)all foreigners from Israel.

Tobiah Expelled and the Temple Cleansed

⁴Now prior to this, Eliashib the priest, ^(EX)who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, being ^[bl]related to ^(EY)Tobiah, ⁵had prepared a large ^[bm]room for him, where previously they used to put the grain offerings, the frankincense, the utensils and the tithes of grain, wine, and oil ^(EZ)prescribed for the Levites, the singers, and the gatekeepers, and the ^[bn]contributions for the priests. ⁶But during all this time I was not in Jerusalem, for in ^(FA)the thirty-second year of ^(FB)Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had come to the king. After some time, however, I requested a leave of absence from the king, ⁷and I came to Jerusalem and ^[bo]learned about the evil that Eliashib had committed for ^[bp]Tobiah, ^(FC)by preparing a ^[bq]room for him in the courtyards of the house of God. ⁸It was very displeasing to me, so I ^(FD)threw all of Tobiah’s household articles out of the room. ⁹Then I gave an order, and ^(FE)they cleansed the rooms; and I returned the utensils of the house of God there with the grain offering and the frankincense.

Tithes Restored

¹⁰I also ^[br]discovered that ^(FF)the portions of the Levites had not been given to them, so the Levites and the singers who performed the service had ^[bs]gone away, ^(FG)each to his own field. ¹¹So I ^[bt]^(FH)reprimanded the officials and said, “^(FI)Why has the house of God been neglected?” Then I gathered them together and stationed them at their posts. ¹²All Judah then brought ^(FJ)the tithe of the grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses. ¹³To be in charge of the storehouses, I appointed Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah from the Levites, and in addition to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for ^(FK)they were considered reliable, and it was ^[bu]their task to distribute to their kinsmen. ¹⁴^(FL)Remember me for this, my God, and do not wipe out my loyal deeds which I have performed for the house of my God and its services.

Sabbath Restored

¹⁵In those days I saw in Judah people who were treading wine presses ^(FM)on the Sabbath, and bringing in sacks of grain and loading them on donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, figs, and every kind of load, ^(FN)and they were bringing them into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So ^(FO)I admonished them on the day they sold food. ¹⁶Also people of Tyre were living ^[bv]there who imported fish and all kinds of merchandise, and sold them to the sons of Judah on the Sabbath, even in Jerusalem. ¹⁷Then ^(FP)I ^[bw]reprimanded the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, ^[bx]by profaning the Sabbath day? ¹⁸^(FQ)Did your fathers not do the same, so that our God brought on us and on this city all this trouble? Yet you are adding to the wrath against Israel by profaning the Sabbath.”

¹⁹And ^(FR)it came about that just as it became dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered that the doors be shut, ^[by]and that they were not to open them until after the Sabbath. Then I stationed some of my servants at the gates so that no load would enter on the Sabbath day. ²⁰Once or twice the traders and merchants of every kind of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem. ²¹Then ^(FS)I warned them and said to them, “Why do you spend the night in front of the wall? If you do so again, I will ^[bz]use force against you.” From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath. ²²And I ordered the Levites that ^(FT)they were to purify themselves and come as gatekeepers to sanctify the Sabbath day. For this also ^(FU)remember me, my God, and have compassion on me according to the greatness of Your mercy.

Mixed Marriages Forbidden

²³In those days I also saw that the Jews had ^[ca]^(FV)married women from ^(FW)Ashdod, ^(FX)Ammon, and Moab. ²⁴As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them knew how to speak the language of Judah, but ^[cb]only the language of his own people. ²⁵So ^(FY)I quarreled with them and cursed them, and ^(FZ)struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and ^(GA)made them swear by God, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take any of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. ²⁶^(GB)Did Solomon the king of Israel not sin regarding these things? ^(GC)Yet among the many nations there was no king like him, and ^(GD)he was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel; yet the foreign women caused even him to sin. ²⁷Has it not then been reported about you that you have committed all this great evil ^(GE)by acting unfaithfully against our God, by ^[cc]marrying foreign women?” ²⁸Even one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, became a son-in-law of ^(GF)Sanballat the Horonite, so I chased him away from me. ²⁹^(GG)Remember them, my God, ^[cd]because they have defiled the priesthood and the ^(GH)covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.

³⁰^(GI)So I purified them from everything foreign, and assigned duties to the priests and the Levites, each in his work, ³¹and I arranged ^(GJ)for the delivery of wood at appointed times and for the first fruits. ^(GK)Remember me, my God, for good.