Nehemiah 13:1-9

Foreigners Excluded

1 On that day ¹they read aloud from the book of Moses in the hearing of the people; and there was found written in it that ²no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God,

2 because they did not meet the sons of Israel with bread and water, but ³hired Balaam against them to curse them. However, ⁴our God turned the curse into a blessing.

3 So when they heard the law, ⁵they excluded ⁶all foreigners from Israel.

Tobiah Expelled and the Temple Cleansed

4 Now prior to this, Eliashib the priest, ⁷who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, being related to ⁸Tobiah,

5 had prepared a large room for him, where formerly they put the grain offerings, the frankincense, the utensils and the tithes of grain, wine and oil ⁹prescribed for the Levites, the singers and the gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests.

6 But during all this time I was not in Jerusalem, for in ¹⁰the thirty-second * year of ¹¹Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had gone to the king. After some time, however, I asked leave from the king,

7 and I came to Jerusalem and learned about the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, ¹²by preparing a room for him in the courts of the house of God.

8 It was very displeasing to me, so I ¹³threw all of Tobiah's household goods out of the room.

9 Then I gave an order and ¹⁴they cleansed the rooms; and I returned there the utensils of the house of God with the grain offerings and the frankincense.

Nehemiah 13:1-9 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NEHEMIAH 13

This chapter relates the reformation of various abuses crept in among the Jews by Nehemiah, who removed the Moabites and Ammonites, mixed with them, Ne 13:1-3, threw the household goods of Tobiah out of a chamber of the temple, and restored it to its former use, Ne 13:4-9, took care that the Levites had their portion given them which had been kept from them, Ne 13:10-14 prevented the profanation of the sabbath by selling goods on that day, Ne 13:15-22, and put a stop to the marrying of strange wives, which had prevailed again among them, Ne 13:23-31.

Cross References

• 1. Nehemiah 9:3
• 2. Deuteronomy 23:3-5; Nehemiah 13:23
• 3. Numbers 22:3-11
• 4. Deuteronomy 23:5
• 5. Nehemiah 9:2; Nehemiah 10:28
• 6. Exodus 12:38
• 7. Nehemiah 12:44
• 8. Nehemiah 2:10; Nehemiah 6:1, 17, 18
• 9. Numbers 18:21
• 10. Nehemiah 5:14
• 11. Ezra 6:22
• 12. Nehemiah 13:5
• 13. John 2:13-16
• 14. 2 Chr 29:5, 15, 16

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "close to"
• [b]. Or "chamber"
• [c]. Lit "heave offerings"
• [d]. Or "understood"
• [e]. Or "chamber," and so in vv 8, 9