21
Then I testified against them, and said to them, Why do ye lodge in front of the wall? if ye do so again, I will stretch out my hand upon you. From that time they came not on the sabbath.
22
and I told the Levites who were purifying themselves, and came and kept the gates, that they should sanctify the sabbath-day. Remember me, O God, for these things, and spare me according to the abundance of thy mercy.
23
And in those days I saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, of Ammon, of Moab:
24
and their children spoke half in the language of Ashdod, and did not know how to speak in the Jewish language.
25
And I strove with them and cursed them; and I smote some of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, Ye shall not give your daughters to their sons, and ye shall not take of their daughters to your sons.
26
Did not Solomon king of Israel sin thus? though there was no king like him among many nations, and he was beloved of God, and God made him king over all Israel; yet strange women turned him aside.
27
So we will not hearken to you to do all this evil, to break covenant with our God, —to marry strange wives.
28
and Elisub the high priest, of the sons of Joada, son-in-law of Sanaballat the Uranite, I chased him away from me.
29
Remember them, O God, for their connection with the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and the Levites.
30
So I purged them from all foreign connection, and established courses for the priests and the Levites, man according to his work.
31
And the offering of the wood-bearers at certain set times, and in the first-fruits. Remember me, O our God, for good.