Nehemiah 13:7-31

7 and I came to Jerusalem and learned about the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, ¹by preparing a room for him in the courts of the house of God.

8 It was very displeasing to me, so I ²threw all of Tobiah's household goods out of the room.

9 Then I gave an order and ³they 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 ⁴the portions of the Levites had not been given them, so that the Levites and the singers who performed the service had gone away, ⁵each to his own field.

11 So I ⁶reprimanded the officials and said, "⁷Why is the house of God forsaken?" Then I gathered them together and restored them to their posts.

12 All Judah then brought ⁸the 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 ⁹they were considered reliable, and it was their task to distribute to their kinsmen.

14 ¹⁰Remember 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 ¹¹on the sabbath, and bringing in sacks of grain and loading them on donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, figs and all kinds of loads, ¹²and they brought them into Jerusalem on the sabbath day. So ¹³I 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 ¹⁴I reprimanded the nobles of Judah and said to them, "What is this evil thing you are doing, by profaning the sabbath day?

18 "¹⁵Did 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 ¹⁶It 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 ¹⁷I 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 ¹⁸they should purify themselves and come as gatekeepers * to sanctify the sabbath day. For this also ¹⁹remember 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 ²⁰married women from ²¹Ashdod, ²²Ammon 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 ²³I contended with them and cursed them and ²⁴struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and ²⁵made 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 "²⁶Did not Solomon king of Israel sin regarding these things? ²⁷Yet among the many nations there was no king like him, and ²⁸he 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 ²⁹by 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 ³⁰Sanballat the Horonite, so I drove him away from me.

29 ³¹Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the ³²covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.

30 ³³Thus I purified them from everything foreign and appointed duties for the priests and the Levites, each in his task,

31 and I arranged ³⁴for the supply of wood at appointed times and for the first fruits. ³⁵Remember me, O my God, for good.

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Nehemiah 13:7-31 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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 35

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

Footnotes 18

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