Nehemiah13
New American Standard
1On that day the Book of Moses was read aloud as the people listened; and there was found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite was ever to enter the assembly of God,
2because they did not meet the sons of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them. However, our God turned the curse into a blessing.
3So when they heard the Law, they excluded all foreigners from Israel.
4Now prior to this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, being related to Tobiah,
5had prepared a large room for him, where previously they used to put the grain offerings, the frankincense, the utensils and the tithes of grain, wine, and oil prescribed for the Levites, the singers, and the gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests.
6But during all this time I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had come to the king. After some time, however, I requested a leave of absence from the king,
7and I came to Jerusalem and learned about the evil that Eliashib had committed for Tobiah, by preparing a room for him in the courtyards of the house of God.
8It was very displeasing to me, so I threw all of Tobiah’s household articles out of the room.
9Then I gave an order, and they cleansed the rooms; and I returned the utensils of the house of God there with the grain offering and the frankincense.
10I also discovered that the portions of the Levites had not been given to them, so the Levites and the singers who performed the service had gone away, each to his own field.
11So I reprimanded the officials and said, “Why has the house of God been neglected?” Then I gathered them together and stationed them at their posts.
12All Judah then brought the tithe of the grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses.
13To be in charge of the storehouses, I appointed Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah from the Levites, and in addition to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for they were considered reliable, and it was their task to distribute to their kinsmen.
14Remember me for this, my God, and do not wipe out my loyal deeds which I have performed for the house of my God and its services.
15In those days I saw in Judah people who were treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sacks of grain and loading them on donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, figs, and every kind of load, and they were bringing them into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I admonished them on the day they sold food.
16Also people of Tyre were living there who imported fish and all kinds of merchandise, and sold them to the sons of Judah on the Sabbath, even in Jerusalem.
17Then I reprimanded the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, by profaning the Sabbath day?
18Did your fathers not do the same, so that our God brought on us and on this city all this trouble? Yet you are adding to the wrath against Israel by profaning the Sabbath.”
19And it came about that just as it became dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered that the doors be shut, and that they were not to open them until after the Sabbath. Then I stationed some of my servants at the gates so that no load would enter on the Sabbath day.
20Once or twice the traders and merchants of every kind of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem.
21Then I warned them and said to them, “Why do you spend the night in front of the wall? If you do so again, I will use force against you.” From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath.
22And I ordered the Levites that they were to purify themselves and come as gatekeepers to sanctify the Sabbath day. For this also remember me, my God, and have compassion on me according to the greatness of Your mercy.
23In those days I also saw that the Jews had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.
24As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them knew how to speak the language of Judah, but only the language of his own people.
25So I quarreled with them and cursed them, and struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take any of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.
26Did Solomon the king of Israel not sin regarding these things? Yet among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel; yet the foreign women caused even him to sin.
27Has it not then been reported about you that you have committed all this great evil by acting unfaithfully against our God, by marrying foreign women?”
28Even one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, became a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite, so I chased him away from me.
29Remember them, my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.
30So I purified them from everything foreign, and assigned duties to the priests and the Levites, each in his work,
31and I arranged for the delivery of wood at appointed times and for the first fruits. Remember me, my God, for good.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Nehemiah 13.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Nehemiah turns out the mixed multitude. (1–9). Nehemiah's reform in the house of God. (10–14). Sabbath-breaking restrained. (15–22). The dismissal of strange wives. (23–31).
vv1-9
Israel was a peculiar people, and not to mingle with the nations. See the benefit of publicly reading the word of God; when it is duly attended to, it discovers to us sin and duty, good and evil, and shows wherein we have erred. We profit, when we are thus wrought upon to separate from evil. Those that would drive sin out of their hearts, the living temples, must throw out its household stuff, and all the provision made for it; and take away all the things that are the food and fuel of lust; this is really to mortify it. When sin is cast out of the heart by repentance, let the blood of Christ be applied to it by faith, then let it be furnished with the graces of God's Spirit, for every good work.
vv10-14
If a sacred character will not keep men from setting an evil example, it must not shelter any one from deserved blame and punishment. The Levites had been wronged; their portions had not been given them. They were gone to get livelihoods for themselves and their families, for their profession would not maintain them. A maintenance not sufficient, makes a poor ministry. The work is neglected, because the workmen are. Nehemiah laid the fault upon the rulers. Both ministers and people, who forsake religion and the services of it, and magistrates, who do not what they can to keep them to it, will have much to answer for. He delayed not to bring the Levites to their places again, and that just payment should be made. Nehemiah on every occasion looked up to God, and committed himself and all his affairs to Him. It pleased him to think that he had been of use to revive and support religion in his country. He here refers to God, not in pride, but with a humble appeal concerning his honest intention in what he had done. He prays, “Remember me;” not, Reward me. “Wipe not out my good deeds;” not, Publish them, or record them. Yet he was rewarded, and his good deeds recorded. God does more than we are able to ask.
vv15-22
The keeping holy the Lord's day forms an important object for their attention who would promote true godliness. Religion never prospers while sabbaths are trodden under foot. No wonder there was a general decay of religion, and corruption of manners among the Jews, when they forsook the sanctuary and profaned the sabbath. Those little consider what an evil they do, who profane the sabbath. We must answer for the sins others are led to commit by our example. Nehemiah charges it on them as an evil thing, for so it is, proceeding from contempt of God and our own souls. He shows that sabbath-breaking was one of the sins for which God had brought judgments upon them; and if they did not take warning, but returned to the same sins again, they had to expect further judgments. The courage, zeal, and prudence of Nehemiah in this matter, are recorded for us to do likewise; and we have reason to think, that the cure he wrought was lasting. He felt and confessed himself a sinner, who could demand nothing from God as justice, when he thus cried unto him for mercy.
Key Words
יוֹם: a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)
קָרָא: to call out to (i.e. properly, address by name, but used in a wide variety of applications)
סֵפֶר: properly, writing (the art or a document); by implication, a book
מֹשֶׁה: Mosheh, the Israelite lawgiver
אֹזֶן: broadness. i.e. (concrete) the ear (from its form in man)
עַם: a people (as a congregated unit); specifically, a tribe (as those of Israel); hence (collectively) troops or attendants; figuratively, a flock
מָצָא: properly, to come forth to, i.e. appear or exist; transitively, to attain, i.e. find or acquire; figuratively, to occur, meet or be present
כָּתַב: to grave, by implication, to write (describe, inscribe, prescribe, subscribe)
אֲשֶׁר: who, which, what, that; also (as an adverb and a conjunction) when, where, how, because, in order that, etc.
לֹא: not (the simple or abs. negation); by implication, no; often used with other particles
Cross References
Nehemiah 13Direct source text read in the audience of the people regarding the Ammonite and Moabite exclusion.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Jeremiah's explicit prophetic warning against bearing burdens through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
The supreme historical warning of Solomon being led into sin and idolatry by strange, foreign wives.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The people's recent, solemn covenant agreement to pay the tithes, which they had quickly broken.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Nehemiah's signature prayer of appeal to God's remembrance of his good deeds and faithfulness.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Contemporaneous prophetic indictment of priests who corrupted the covenant of Levi, matching Nehemiah's charge.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Parallel crisis of Ezra separating the holy seed from the mixed heathen population of the land.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Malachi's direct rebuke of robbing God by withholding the mandated tithes and offerings.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Direct contrast to their prior covenant oath: 'we will not forsake the house of our God.'
Supported by Matthew Poole
The legal warrant and limitation for beating the disobedient with stripes.
Supported by Matthew Henry