Nehemiah 13:1-11

Further Reforms by Nehemiah

13:1 On that day the book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing ¹  of the people. They found ²  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 ³  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 ⁴  of the temple of our God. 13:5 He made for himself a large storeroom where previously they had been keeping ⁵  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, ⁶  for in the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes of Babylon, I had gone back to the king. After some time ⁷  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 ⁸  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. ⁹ 

[13:1]  ¹ tn Heb “ears.”

[13:1]  ² tn Heb “it was found.” The Hebrew verb is passive.

[13:2]  ³ tn Heb “bread.” The Hebrew term is generic here, however, referring to more than bread alone.

[13:4]  ⁴ tc The translation reads the plural rather than the singular of the MT.

[13:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “giving.”

[13:6]  ⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[13:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “to the end of days.”

[13:9]  ⁸ tn On the usage of this Hebrew word see HALOT 478-79 s.v. כְּלִי.

[13:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “and I stood them on their standing.”