¹On that day it was read aloud from the scroll of Moses in the ears of the people, and it was found written in it that an Ammonite and a Moabite shall not come into the company of God forever;

²because they did not meet the sons of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them; yet our God turned the curse into a blessing.

³And it happened, when they heard the instruction, that they separated every mixed company from Israel.

⁴And before this, Eliashib the priest, who was set over the hall of the house of our God, was near to Tobiah,

⁵And he made for him a great hall, and there, formerly, they had been putting the grain offering, the frankincense, and the utensils, and the tenth of the grain, the new wine, and the fresh oil, what was commanded for the Levites, those who sing, and the gatekeepers, and the contribution of the priests.

⁶But during all this I was not in Jerusalem; for in the year thirty and two of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had gone to the king, and at the end of some days I asked leave from the king.

⁷And I came to Jerusalem and discerned the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, by making him a room in the courts of the house of God.

⁸And it displeased me exceedingly; and I threw all the articles of the house of Tobiah outside, out of the hall.

⁹And I said, and they purified the halls; and I brought back there the utensils of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense.

¹⁰And I knew that the portions of the Levites had not been given, and that they had fled, each man to his field, the Levites and those who sing, who did the work.

¹¹Then I contended with the officials and said, "Why has the house of God been forsaken?" And I gathered them together, and I made them stand at their standing-place.

¹²And all Judah brought the tenth of the grain, the new wine, and the fresh oil into the storehouses.

¹³And I appointed as treasurers over the storehouses Shelemiah the priest, and Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah, one of the Levites; and at their hand, Hanan son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah; for they were reckoned reliable, and it was on them to distribute to their brothers.

¹⁴Remember me, my God, for this, and do not wipe out my loyal love that I have done in the house of my God and in its watches.

¹⁵In those days I saw in Judah some treading winepresses on the sabbath, and some bringing in the heaps and loading them on the donkeys, and also wine, grapes, and figs, and every load, and bringing them into Jerusalem on the sabbath day; and I bore witness on the day of their selling provisions.

¹⁶And the Tyrians who dwelled in it brought fish and all merchandise, and sold on the sabbath to the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem.

¹⁷Then I contended with the nobles of Judah and said to them, What is this evil word that you are doing, profaning the day of the sabbath?

¹⁸Did your fathers not do thus, and our God brought all this evil on us and on this city? Yet you are adding burning anger against Israel by profaning the sabbath.

¹⁹And it was, when the gates of Jerusalem were shaded before the sabbath, I said that the doors be shut; and I said that they must not open them wide until after the sabbath. And some of my boys I stationed at the gates, so that no burden would come in on the day of the sabbath.

²⁰So the traders and sellers of every kind of merchandise passed the night outside Jerusalem, a time or two.

²¹And I warned them, and I said to them, Why are you spending the night in front of the wall? If you repeat it, I will stretch out a hand against you. From that time they did not come on the sabbath.

²²And I said to the Levites that they should be purifying themselves and come guarding the gates, to set apart the day of the sabbath. Remember this also for me, my God, and have compassion on me according to the multitude of your loyal love.

²³Also in those days I saw the Jews who had made Ashdodite, Ammonite, and Moabite women dwell with them.

²⁴And half of their sons were speaking Ashdodite, and they were not acquainted with speaking Judean, but according to the language of one people and another.

²⁵I contended with them, and I cursed them, and I struck men among them, and I made them bald, and I made them swear by God: You shall not give your daughters to their sons, and you shall not take any of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.

²⁶Did Solomon, king of Israel, not sin over these things? And among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was loved by his God, and God set him as king over all Israel; even him the foreign women caused to sin.

²⁷And is it to be heard of you, doing all this great evil, acting unfaithfully against our God by making foreign women dwell with you?

²⁸And one of the sons of Joiada, son of Eliashib the great priest, was a son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite; so I drove him away from me.

²⁹Remember, my God, against them, on account of the defiling of the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.

³⁰So I purified them from everything foreign, and I appointed duties for the priests and for the Levites, each one in his work.

³¹And for the offering of wood at fixed times, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, my God, for good.