Nehemiah 13:15-31

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 ¹  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! ²  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 ³  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 ⁴  began to fall on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered ⁵  the doors to be closed. I further directed that they were not to be opened until after the Sabbath. I positioned ⁶  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, ⁷  “Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you repeat this, I will forcibly remove you!” ⁸  From that time on they did not show up on the Sabbath. ⁹  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 ¹⁰ ) 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 ¹¹  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 ¹²  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 ¹³  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, ¹⁴  and the Levites.

13:30 So I purified them of everything foreign, and I assigned specific ¹⁵  duties to the priests and the Levites. 13:31 I also provided for ¹⁶  the wood offering at the appointed times and also for the first fruits.

Please remember me for good, O my God.

[13:16]  ¹ map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[13:16]  ² tn The words “of all places” are not in the Hebrew text but have been supplied in the translation to indicate the emphasis on Jerusalem.

[13:18]  ³ tn Heb “your fathers.”

[13:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “the gates of Jerusalem grew dark.”

[13:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “said” (so also in v. 22).

[13:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “caused to stand.”

[13:21]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew text includes the words “to them,” but they have been excluded from the translation for stylistic reasons.

[13:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “I will send a hand on you.”

[13:21]  ⁹ sn This statement contains a great deal of restrained humor. The author clearly takes pleasure in the effectiveness of the measures that he had enacted.

[13:24]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “people and people.”

[13:25]  ¹¹ tn Heb “give.”

[13:26]  ¹² tn Heb “gave.”

[13:27]  ¹³ tn Heb “give a dwelling to.”

[13:29]  ¹⁴ tc One medieval Hebrew MS, the Lucianic Greek recension, and the Syriac Peshitta read the plural הַכֹּהֲנִים (hakkohanim, “the priests”) rather than the singular reading of the MT, הַכְּהֻנָּה (hakkÿhunnah, “the priesthood”).

[13:30]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “a man in his work.”

[13:31]  ¹⁶ tn The words “I also provided for” are not included in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.