Nehemiah 13:10-22

10 I also found out that ¹the portions of the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had fled each ²to his field.

11 ³So I confronted the officials and said, ⁴“Why is the house of God forsaken? ” And I gathered them together and set them in their stations.

12 Then all Judah brought ⁵the tithe of the grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses.

13 And ⁶I appointed as treasurers over the storehouses Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, and as their assistant Hanan the son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, ⁷for they were considered reliable, and their duty was to distribute to their brothers.

14 ⁸Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for his service.

15 In those days I saw in Judah people treading winepresses ⁹on the Sabbath, and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, ¹⁰which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And ¹¹I warned them on the day when they sold food.

16 Tyrians also, who lived in the city, brought in fish and all kinds of goods and sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah, in Jerusalem itself!

17 ¹²Then I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, ¹³profaning the Sabbath day?

18 ¹⁴Did not your fathers act in this way, and did not our God bring all this disaster^[a] on us and on this city? Now you are bringing more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath. ”

19 As soon as it ¹⁵began to grow dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and gave orders that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. And I stationed some of my servants at the gates, that no load might be brought in on the Sabbath day.

20 Then the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice.

21 ¹⁶But I warned them and said to them, “Why do you lodge outside the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you. ” From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath.

22 Then I commanded the Levites ¹⁷that they should purify themselves and come and guard the gates, to keep the Sabbath day holy. ¹⁸Remember this also in my favor, O my God, and spare me according to the greatness of your steadfast love.

Nehemiah 13:10-22 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. 13:10 2 Chr. 31:4; [Mal. 3:8]
• 2. 13:10 ch. 12:28, 29
• 3. 13:11 ver. 17, 25
• 4. 13:11 [ch. 10:39]
• 5. 13:12 [ch. 10:38, 39; 12:44]
• 6. 13:13 [2 Chr. 31:12, 13]
• 7. 13:13 ch. 7:2; [1 Cor. 4:2]
• 8. 13:14 ver. 22, 31; ch. 5:19
• 9. 13:15 [Ex. 20:10]
• 10. 13:15 See ch. 10:31
• 11. 13:15 ver. 21
• 12. 13:17 ver. 11
• 13. 13:17 [Matt. 12:5]
• 14. 13:18 See Jer. 17:19-23
• 15. 13:19 Lev. 23:32
• 16. 13:21 ver. 15
• 17. 13:22 ch. 12:30
• 18. 13:22 [ver. 14, 31]

Footnotes

• [a] 13:18 The Hebrew word can mean 'evil', 'harm', or 'disaster', depending on the context