¹On that day there was a reading from the book of Moses with the people hearing, and there was found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever come into the convocation of God. ²For they did not meet the sons of Israel with bread and water, and they hired Balaam against them to curse them, but our God turned the curse into a blessing. ³And it came to pass when they heard the law that they separated all the mixed camp followers from Israel. ⁴Now before this, Eliashib the priest had been given an appointment in an office of the house of our God. He was related to Tobiah, ⁵and he had acquired for him a large office where people had previously given the meal-offering, the frankincense and various articles and the tithe of the corn, the new wine and the new oil – a commandment for the Levites and the singers and the gatekeepers – and the heave-offering for the priests. ⁶But during all this I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon, I had gone to the king, and after some days I asked the king for leave, ⁷and I came to Jerusalem, and I became aware of the wrong which Eliashib had done for the benefit of Tobiah in acquiring an office for him in the courtyards of the house of God. ⁸And it was very hurtful to me, and I threw all Tobiah's household articles out of the office. ⁹And I gave instruction, and they cleansed the offices, and I restored the equipment of the house of God there, and the meal-offering, and the frankincense. ¹⁰And I knew that the contributions for the Levites had not been given, and that the Levites and the singers who did the work had fled – each to his own field. ¹¹And I argued with the administrators, and I said, “Why has the house of God been abandoned?” And I gathered them together and stationed them in their positions. ¹²And all Judah brought the tithe of the corn and the new wine and the new oil to the treasuries. ¹³And I appointed treasurers over the treasuries: Shelemiah the priest and Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah from the Levites, and alongside them was Hanan, the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah, for they were considered faithful, and it was incumbent on them to apportion the revenue to their brothers. ¹⁴Remember me, O God of mine, for this, and do not blot out the kind deeds which I have done in the house of my God and its observances. ¹⁵In those days I saw in Judah men treading in wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing grain in in heaps, and loading it on donkeys – and also wine, grapes and figs and all kinds of burden – and bringing them to Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I testified against them on the day when they sold the produce. ¹⁶And Tyrians lived in the place, and they brought fish and all kinds of merchandise and sold it on the Sabbath to the sons of Judah and in Jerusalem. ¹⁷And I argued with the nobles of Judah, and I said to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, seeing you are profaning the Sabbath day? ¹⁸Did not your fathers do likewise, so that our God brought all this trouble on us and on this city, yet you are adding fury on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.” ¹⁹And it came to pass, when the gates of Jerusalem were becoming overshadowed before the Sabbath, that I ordered that the doors be shut, and I ordered that they should not be open until after the Sabbath. And I stationed some of my servant-lads at the gates so that no burden should enter on the Sabbath day. ²⁰Then the traders and sellers of all kinds of merchandise lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice. ²¹But I testified against them, and I said to them, “Why do you lodge opposite the wall? If you do it again I will lay hands on you.” From that time they did not come on the Sabbath. ²²And I instructed the Levites that they should purify themselves and come and guard the gates to sanctify the Sabbath day. Remember this too on my account, O God of mine, and have pity on me, according to the abundance of your kindness. ²³Also in those days I saw the Jews bringing Ashdodite, Ammonite and Moabite women into their homes, ²⁴and their sons spoke half Ashdodian, and they were not familiar with speaking the Judaean language, but they spoke in the tongue of the various peoples. ²⁵And I argued with them, and I cursed them, and I struck some of the men, and I plucked out their hair, and I adjured them by God and said, “Do not give your daughters to their sons and do not take any of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves at all. ²⁶Did not Solomon king of Israel sin similarly? Yet among the numerous nations there was no king like him, and he was loved by his God, and God appointed him king over all Israel. But the foreign women induced even him to sin. ²⁷So shall we consent to you doing all this great evil, in acting perversely against our God, in taking foreign women into our homes?” ²⁸And one of the sons of Joiada the son of Eliashib the high priest was the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite, and I chased him away from me. ²⁹Remember them, O God of mine, for the stains they brought on the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites. ³⁰And I cleansed them from all foreignness, and I instituted duties for the priests and Levites – each in his own work – ³¹and for the offering of wood at appointed times, and for the firstfruits. Remember me favourably, O God of mine.