4
The priest Eliashib, who was in charge of the Temple storerooms, had for a long time been on good terms with Tobiah.
5
He allowed Tobiah to use a large room that was intended only for storing offerings of grain and incense, the equipment used in the Temple, the offerings for the priests, and the tithes of grain, wine, and olive oil given to the Levites, to the Temple musicians, and to the Temple guards.
6
While this was going on, I was not in Jerusalem, because in the thirty-second year that Artaxerxes was king of Babylon I had gone back to report to him. After some time I received his permission
7
and returned to Jerusalem. There I was shocked to find that Eliashib had allowed Tobiah to use a room in the Temple.
8
I was furious and threw out all of Tobiah's belongings.
9
I gave orders for the rooms to be ritually purified and for the Temple equipment, grain offerings, and incense to be put back.
10
I also learned that the Temple musicians and other Levites had left Jerusalem and gone back to their farms, because the people had not been giving them enough to live on.
1
11
I reprimanded the officials for letting the Temple be neglected. And I brought the Levites and musicians back to the Temple and put them to work again.
12
Then all the people of Israel again started bringing to the Temple storerooms their tithes of grain, wine, and olive oil.
2
13
I put the following men in charge of the storerooms: Shelemiah, a priest; Zadok, a scholar of the Law; and Pedaiah, a Levite. Hanan, the son of Zaccur and grandson of Mattaniah, was to be their assistant. I knew I could trust these men to be honest in distributing the supplies to the other workers.
14
Remember, my God, all these things that I have done for your Temple and its worship.