Nehemiah 13:10-30

10I also 1discovered that 2the portions of the Levites had not been given them, so that the Levites and the singers who performed the service had 3gone away, 4each to his own field. 11So I 56reprimanded the officials and said, “7Why is the house of God forsaken?” Then I gathered them together and restored them to their posts. 12All Judah then brought 8the tithe of the grain, wine and oil into the storehouses. 13In charge of the storehouses I appointed Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, and in addition to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for 9they were considered reliable, and it was 10their task to distribute to their 11kinsmen. 1412Remember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out my loyal deeds which I have performed for the house of my God and its services.

15In those days I saw in Judah some who were treading wine presses 13on the sabbath, and bringing in sacks of grain and loading them on donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, figs and all kinds of loads, 14and they brought them into Jerusalem on the sabbath day. So 15I admonished them on the day they sold food. 16Also men of Tyre were living 16there who imported fish and all kinds of merchandise, and sold them to the sons of Judah on the sabbath, even in Jerusalem. 17Then 17I 18reprimanded the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing you are doing, 19by profaning the sabbath day? 1820Did not your fathers do the same, so that our God brought on us and on this city all this trouble? Yet you are adding to the wrath on Israel by profaning the sabbath.”

1921It came about that just as it grew dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut 22and that they should not 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 23I 24warned them and said to them, “Why do you spend the night in front of the wall? If you do so again, I will 25use force against you.” From that time on they did not come on the sabbath. 22And I commanded the Levites that 26they should purify themselves and come as gatekeepers to sanctify the sabbath day. For this also 27remember me, O my God, and have compassion on me according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness.

23In those days I also saw that the Jews had 2829married women from 30Ashdod, 31Ammon and Moab. 24As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them was able to speak the language of Judah, but 32the language of his own people. 25So 33I contended with them and cursed them and 34struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and 35made them swear by God, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. 2636Did not Solomon king of Israel sin regarding these things? 37Yet among the many nations there was no king like him, and 38he was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless the foreign women caused even him to sin. 2739Do we then hear about you that you have committed all this great evil 40by acting unfaithfully against our God by 41marrying foreign women?” 28Even one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was a son-in-law of 42Sanballat the Horonite, so I drove him away from me. 2943Remember them, O my God, 44because they have defiled the priesthood and the 45covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.

3046Thus I purified them from everything foreign and appointed duties for the priests and the Levites, each in his task,