Nehemiah 13:4-31

Tobiah Expelled and the Temple Cleansed

4 Now prior to this, Eliashib the priest, ¹who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, being related to ²Tobiah,

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 ³prescribed 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 ⁴the thirty-second * year of ⁵Artaxerxes 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, ⁶by preparing a room for him in the courts of the house of God.

8 It was very displeasing to me, so I ⁷threw all of Tobiah's household goods out of the room.

9 Then I gave an order and ⁸they cleansed the rooms; and I returned there the utensils of the house of God with the grain offerings and the frankincense.

Tithes Restored

10 I also discovered that ⁹the portions of the Levites had not been given them, so that the Levites and the singers who performed the service had gone away, ¹⁰each to his own field.

11 So I ¹¹reprimanded the officials and said, "¹²Why is the house of God forsaken?" Then I gathered them together and restored them to their posts.

12 All Judah then brought ¹³the tithe of the grain, wine and oil into the storehouses.

13 In 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 ¹⁴they were considered reliable, and it was their task to distribute to their kinsmen.

14 ¹⁵Remember 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.

Sabbath Restored

15 In those days I saw in Judah some who were treading wine presses ¹⁶on the sabbath, and bringing in sacks of grain and loading them on donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, figs and all kinds of loads, ¹⁷and they brought them into Jerusalem on the sabbath day. So ¹⁸I admonished them on the day they sold food.

16 Also men of Tyre were living there who imported fish and all kinds of merchandise, and sold them to the sons of Judah on the sabbath, even in Jerusalem.

17 Then ¹⁹I reprimanded the nobles of Judah and said to them, "What is this evil thing you are doing, by profaning the sabbath day?

18 "²⁰Did 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."

19 ²¹It came about that just as it grew dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and 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.

20 Once or twice the traders and merchants of every kind of merchandise spent the night outside * Jerusalem.

21 Then ²²I warned them and said to them, "Why do you spend the night in front of the wall? If you do so again, I will use force against you." From that time on they did not come on the sabbath.

22 And I commanded the Levites that ²³they should purify themselves and come as gatekeepers * to sanctify the sabbath day. For this also ²⁴remember me, O my God, and have compassion on me according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness.

Mixed Marriages Forbidden

23 In those days I also saw that the Jews had ²⁵married women from ²⁶Ashdod, ²⁷Ammon and Moab.

24 As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them was able to speak the language of Judah, but the language of his own people.

25 So ²⁸I contended with them and cursed them and ²⁹struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and ³⁰made them swear by God, "You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.

26 "³¹Did not Solomon king of Israel sin regarding these things? ³²Yet among the many nations there was no king like him, and ³³he was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless the foreign women caused even him to sin.

27 "Do we then hear about you that you have committed all this great evil ³⁴by acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?"

28 Even one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was a son-in-law of ³⁵Sanballat the Horonite, so I drove him away from me.

29 ³⁶Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the ³⁷covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.

30 ³⁸Thus I purified them from everything foreign and appointed duties for the priests and the Levites, each in his task,

31 and I arranged ³⁹for the supply of wood at appointed times and for the first fruits. ⁴⁰Remember me, O my God, for good.

Nehemiah 13:4-31 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 12:44
• 2. Nehemiah 2:10; Nehemiah 6:1, 17, 18
• 3. Numbers 18:21
• 4. Nehemiah 5:14
• 5. Ezra 6:22
• 6. Nehemiah 13:5
• 7. John 2:13-16
• 8. 2 Chr 29:5, 15, 16
• 9. Deuteronomy 12:19; Nehemiah 10:37
• 10. Nehemiah 12:28, 29
• 11. Nehemiah 13:17, 25
• 12. Nehemiah 10:39
• 13. Nehemiah 10:37; Nehemiah 12:44; Malachi 3:10
• 14. Nehemiah 7:2
• 15. Nehemiah 5:19; Nehemiah 13:22, 31
• 16. Exodus 20:8; Exodus 34:21; Deuteronomy 5:12-14; Jeremiah 17:22
• 17. Nehemiah 10:31; Jeremiah 17:21
• 18. Nehemiah 9:29; Nehemiah 13:21
• 19. Nehemiah 13:11, 25
• 20. Ezra 9:13; Jeremiah 17:21
• 21. Leviticus 23:32
• 22. Nehemiah 13:15
• 23. 1 Chronicles 15:12; Nehemiah 12:30
• 24. Nehemiah 13:14, 31
• 25. Exodus 34:11-16; Deuteronomy 7:1-5; Ezra 9:2; Nehemiah 10:30
• 26. Nehemiah 4:7
• 27. Ezra 9:1; Nehemiah 13:1
• 28. Nehemiah 13:11, 17
• 29. Deuteronomy 25:2
• 30. Nehemiah 10:29, 30
• 31. 1 Kings 11:1
• 32. 1 Kings 3:13; 2 Chronicles 1:12
• 33. 2 Samuel 12:24, 25
• 34. Ezra 10:2; Nehemiah 13:23
• 35. Nehemiah 2:10, 19; Nehemiah 4:1
• 36. Nehemiah 6:14
• 37. Numbers 25:13
• 38. Nehemiah 10:30
• 39. Nehemiah 10:34
• 40. Nehemiah 13:14, 22

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "close to"
• [b]. Or "chamber"
• [c]. Lit "heave offerings"
• [d]. Or "understood"
• [e]. Or "chamber," and so in vv 8, 9
• [f]. Or "knew"
• [g]. Lit "fled"
• [h]. Or "contended with"
• [i]. Lit "on them to"
• [j]. Lit "brothers"
• [k]. Lit "in it"
• [l]. Or "contended with"
• [m]. Lit "and"
• [n]. Lit "and commanded"
• [o]. Lit "witnessed against"
• [p]. Lit "send a hand against"
• [q]. Lit "given dwelling to"
• [r]. Lit "according to the tongue of people and people"
• [s]. Or "Is it reported"
• [t]. Lit "giving dwelling to"
• [u]. Lit "for the defilings of"