1 On that day the book of Moses was read aloud to the people, and it was found written there that no Ammonite or Moabite may ever enter the assembly of God,
2 because they had not met the children of Israel with food and water but had hired Balaam to curse them, though our God turned the curse into a blessing.
3 When the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all who were of foreign descent.
4 Before this, Eliashib the priest, who had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God, was closely associated with Tobiah,
5 and he had provided him with a large room where they used to store the grain offerings, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of grain, new wine, and oil prescribed for the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, as well as the contributions for the priests.
6 While all this was going on I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Some time later I asked the king's permission
7 and came back to Jerusalem. There I discovered the evil Eliashib had done for Tobiah by providing him a room in the courts of the house of God.
8 I was very angry and threw all of Tobiah's household belongings out of the room.
9 I gave orders to purify the rooms, and then I put back into them the vessels of the house of God, along with the grain offerings and the frankincense.
10 I also learned that the portions due the Levites had not been given to them, and that the Levites and singers responsible for the service had all gone back to their own fields.
11 So I confronted the officials and asked them, "Why is the house of God neglected?" Then I called the Levites together and put them back at their posts.
12 And all Judah brought the tithes of grain, new wine, and oil into the storerooms.
13 I put Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and a Levite named Pedaiah in charge of the storerooms, with Hanan son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, as their assistant, because these men were considered trustworthy. They were responsible for distributing the supplies to their brothers.
14 Remember me for this, my God, and do not blot out the faithful deeds I have done for the house of my God and its services.
15 In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in sacks of grain and loading them on donkeys, along with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, which they were bringing into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. I warned them against selling food on that day.
16 People from Tyre who lived in the city were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah, and in Jerusalem itself.
17 I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, "What is this wicked thing you are doing, desecrating the Sabbath day?
18 Is this not just what your fathers did, so that our God brought all this trouble on us and on this city? And now you are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath!"
19 So when evening shadows fell on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered the doors to be shut and not opened until the Sabbath was over. I posted some of my own men at the gates so that no load could be brought in on the Sabbath day.
20 Once or twice the merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem.
21 But I warned them, "Why are you spending the night by the wall? If you do this again, I will use force against you." From then on they stopped coming on the Sabbath.
22 I ordered the Levites to purify themselves and to come and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember me for this too, my God, and have mercy on me in keeping with your great steadfast love.
23 In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.
24 Half their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples, and they did not know how to speak the language of Judah.
25 I confronted them and called down curses on them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair, and I made them take an oath in God's name: "You must not give your daughters in marriage to their sons, or take their daughters as wives for your sons or for yourselves.
26 Was it not because of marriages like these that Solomon king 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, yet even he was led into sin by foreign women.
27 Must we now hear that you too are doing all this great evil, breaking faith with our God by marrying foreign women?"
28 One of the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib the high priest was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite, so I drove him away from me.
29 Remember them, my God, for they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.
30 So I purified them of everything foreign and assigned duties to the priests and Levites, each to his own task.
31 I also made provision for the wood offering at set times and for the firstfruits. Remember me with favor, my God.