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Text -- Nehemiah 13:1-29 (NET)
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Context
Further Reforms by Nehemiah
13:1 On that day the book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people . They found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite may ever enter the assembly of God ,
13:2 for they had not met the Israelites with food and water , but instead had hired Balaam to curse them. (Our God , however, turned the curse into blessing .)
13:3 When they heard the law , they removed from Israel all who were of mixed ancestry .
13:4 But prior to this time, Eliashib the priest , a relative of Tobiah , had been appointed over the storerooms of the temple of our God .
13:5 He made for himself a large storeroom where previously they had been keeping the grain offering , the incense , and the vessels , along with the tithes of the grain , the new wine , and the olive oil as commanded for the Levites , the singers , the gate keepers , and the offering for the priests .
13:6 During all this time I was not in Jerusalem , for in the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes of Babylon , I had gone back to the king . After some time I had requested leave of the king ,
13:7 and I returned to Jerusalem . Then I discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah by supplying him with a storeroom in the courts of the temple of God .
13:8 I was very upset , and I threw all of Tobiah’s household possessions out of the storeroom .
13:9 Then I gave instructions that the storerooms should be purified , and I brought back the equipment of the temple of God , along with the grain offering and the incense .
13:10 I also discovered that the grain offerings for the Levites had not been provided , and that as a result the Levites and the singers who performed this work had all gone off to their fields .
13:11 So I registered a complaint with the leaders , asking “Why is the temple of God neglected ?” Then I gathered them and reassigned them to their positions .
13:12 Then all of Judah brought the tithe of the grain , the new wine , and the olive oil to the storerooms .
13:13 I gave instructions that Shelemiah the priest , Zadok the scribe , and a certain Levite named Pedaiah be put in charge of the storerooms , and that Hanan son of Zaccur , the son of Mattaniah , be their assistant , for they were regarded as trustworthy . It was then their responsibility to oversee the distribution to their colleagues .
13:14 Please remember me for this , O my God , and do not wipe out the kindness that I have done for the temple of my God and for its services !
13:15 In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath , bringing in heaps of grain and loading them onto donkeys , along with wine , grapes , figs , and all kinds of loads , and bringing them to Jerusalem on the Sabbath day . So I warned them on the day that they sold these provisions .
13:16 The people from Tyre who lived there were bringing fish and all kinds of merchandise and were selling it on the Sabbath to the people of Judah – and in Jerusalem , of all places!
13:17 So I registered a complaint with the nobles of Judah , saying to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing , profaning the Sabbath day ?
13:18 Isn’t this the way your ancestors acted , causing our God to bring on them and on this city all this misfortune ? And now you are causing even more wrath on Israel , profaning the Sabbath like this!”
13:19 When the evening shadows began to fall on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath , I ordered the doors to be closed . I further directed that they were not to be opened until after the Sabbath . I positioned some of my young men at the gates so that no load could enter on the Sabbath day .
13:20 The traders and sellers of all kinds of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem once or twice .
13:21 But I warned them and said , “Why do you spend the night by the wall ? If you repeat this, I will forcibly remove you!” From that time on they did not show up on the Sabbath .
13:22 Then I directed the Levites to purify themselves and come and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy . For this please remember me, O my God , and have pity on me in keeping with your great love .
13:23 Also in those days I saw the men of Judah who had married women from Ashdod , Ammon , and Moab .
13:24 Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod (or the language of one of the other peoples mentioned ) and were unable to speak the language of Judah .
13:25 So I entered a complaint with them. I called down a curse on them , and I struck some of the men and pulled out their hair. I had them swear by God saying, “You will not marry off your daughters to their sons , and you will not take any of their daughters as wives for your sons or for yourselves!
13:26 Was it not because of things like these that King Solomon of Israel sinned ? Among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God , and God made him king over all Israel . But the foreign wives made even him sin !
13:27 Should we then in your case hear that you do all this great evil , thereby being unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign wives ?”
13:28 Now one of the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib the high priest was a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite . So I banished him from my sight.
13:29 Please remember them , O my God , because they have defiled the priesthood , the covenant of the priesthood , and the Levites .
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
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Names, People and Places:
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expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes -> Neh 13:1; Neh 13:1; Neh 13:2; Neh 13:4; Neh 13:5; Neh 13:6; Neh 13:6; Neh 13:9; Neh 13:11; Neh 13:13; Neh 13:13; Neh 13:13; Neh 13:13; Neh 13:16; Neh 13:16; Neh 13:18; Neh 13:19; Neh 13:19; Neh 13:19; Neh 13:21; Neh 13:21; Neh 13:21; Neh 13:24; Neh 13:25; Neh 13:26; Neh 13:27; Neh 13:29
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NET Notes: Neh 13:2 Heb “bread.” The Hebrew term is generic here, however, referring to more than bread alone.
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NET Notes: Neh 13:16 The words “of all places” are not in the Hebrew text but have been supplied in the translation to indicate the emphasis on Jerusalem.
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NET Notes: Neh 13:21 This statement contains a great deal of restrained humor. The author clearly takes pleasure in the effectiveness of the measures that he had enacted.
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