1
On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and it was found written therein that the Ammonites and the Moabites should not come into the congregation of God forever
2
because they did not meet the sons of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them, that he should curse them; howbeit our God turned the curse into a blessing.
3
Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude.
4
And before this, Eliashib, the priest, had been the overseer of the chamber of the house of our God,
and was related to Tobiah,
5
and he had prepared for him a great chamber, where before they had kept the present, the frankincense, the vessels, the tithe of the grain, of the new wine, and of the oil, which was commanded
to be given to the Levites, to the singers and the porters and the offerings of the priests.
6
But in all this
time I was not at Jerusalem; for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes, king of Babylon, I went unto the king, and after certain days I was sent by the king.
7
And I came to Jerusalem and understood the evil that Eliashib had done attending Tobiah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God.
8
And it grieved me sore; therefore, I cast forth all the household vessels of Tobiah out of the chamber.
9
Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers; and I caused the vessels of the house of God to be brought there again, with the present and the frankincense.
10
And I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given
to them and that the Levites and the singers, that did the work, had fled each one to his inheritance.
11
Then I contended with the rulers and said, Why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered them together and set them in their place.