Nehemiah 13
The full text of Nehemiah 13 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.
1 On that day they read from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people, and in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God,
2 because they had not met the people of Israel with bread and water, but had hired Balaam against them to curse them—though our God turned the curse into a blessing.
3 When the people heard the law, they separated from Israel all those of foreign descent.
4 Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the storerooms of the house of our God, and who was related to Tobiah,
5 had prepared for him a large room where they had previously stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of grain, new wine, and oil prescribed for the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests.
6 While all this was happening, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had gone back to the king. After some time, I asked leave of the king
7 and returned to Jerusalem. Then I discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, preparing a room for him in the courts of the house of God.
8 I was very angry and threw all of Tobiah's household goods out of the room.
9 Then I gave orders and they cleansed the rooms, and I brought back the vessels of the house of God, with the grain offerings and the frankincense.
10 I also found out that the portions for the Levites had not been given to them, so the Levites and the singers who did the work had each gone back to their own fields.
11 So I confronted the officials and said, "Why is the house of God forsaken?" Then I gathered the Levites and singers and stationed them at their posts.
12 Then all Judah brought the tithe of grain, new wine, and oil into the storehouses.
13 I appointed as treasurers over the storehouses Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, with Hanan son of Zakkur, son of Mattaniah, to assist them, for they were considered trustworthy. Their task was to distribute to their brothers.
14 Remember me, my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my faithful deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for its services.
15 In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath, bringing in sheaves, loading donkeys with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, and bringing them into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. I warned them on the day they sold food.
16 People from Tyre who lived there were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah—in Jerusalem!
17 Then I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, "What is this evil thing you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day?
18 Did not your fathers do the same, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Yet you are bringing more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath."
19 As soon as it began to grow dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered that the doors be shut and gave orders that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. I stationed some of my servants at the gates so that no load could be brought in on the Sabbath day.
20 The merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods camped outside Jerusalem once or twice.
21 But I warned them and said to them, "Why do you camp in front of the wall? If you do it again, I will lay hands on you." From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath.
22 Then I commanded the Levites to purify themselves and come as gatekeepers to sanctify the Sabbath day. Remember me for this also, my God, and spare me according to the abundance of your faithful 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 none of them could speak the language of Judah.
25 I confronted them and cursed them and struck some of them and pulled out their hair. I made them swear by God: "You shall not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.
26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin on account of such women? 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 foreign women made even him sin.
27 Shall we then listen to you and do all this great evil, being unfaithful to 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, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.
30 Thus I cleansed them from everything foreign, and I established the duties for the priests and Levites, each in his work,
31 and I arranged for the wood offering at appointed times and for the firstfruits. Remember me, my God, for good.
Translation notes (9)
- Nehemiah 13:1a The passage read aloud is Deuteronomy 23:3-5, which barred Ammonites and Moabites from the qahal ('assembly') to the tenth generation. The Hebrew ad-olam, 'ever' or 'forever', echoes the wording of that law, and the following verse repeats its stated grounds: the refusal of bread and water and the hiring of Balaam.
- Nehemiah 13:2a The verse condenses Deuteronomy 23:3-5, which itself recalls the account of Numbers 22-24, where Balaam, hired by Balak of Moab, was compelled to bless Israel instead. The Hebrew verb hafakh (הפך), 'to overturn', presents the reversal as God's direct act, a point the Deuteronomy passage grounds in his love for Israel.
- Nehemiah 13:5a The room is a lishkah (לִשְׁכָּה), 'chamber', one of the storerooms built along the temple courts to hold the offerings that supported the sanctuary staff. The tithes of grain, wine, and oil were the Levites' allotted income (Numbers 18:21-24), and frankincense was kept there for use with the grain offerings (Leviticus 2:1). Converting such a chamber into lodging for Tobiah thus diverted sacred provisions.
- Nehemiah 13:6a Artaxerxes I of Persia is here styled 'king of Babylon', a title the Persian monarchs retained after Cyrus captured that city in 539 BCE; the usage is not an error. His thirty-second year corresponds to 433 BCE, marking the end of Nehemiah's first term as governor (compare Nehemiah 5:14) before his later return to Jerusalem.
- Nehemiah 13:15a Sabbath trade is the first of the abuses Nehemiah finds on his return from Persia (verse 6). The Sabbath, along with mixed marriage and the temple dues, is one of the three markers by which the restored community defined itself, and each had lapsed while he was away.
- Nehemiah 13:16a Tyre, the Phoenician port city, supplied dried or salted Mediterranean fish inland; the Fish Gate mentioned in Nehemiah 3:3 likely marks where this trade entered the city. The closing phrase renders the Hebrew uvirushalayim (וּבִירוּשָׁלִָם), 'and in Jerusalem', whose abrupt final position conveys indignation that such commerce occurred in the holy city itself.
- Nehemiah 13:25a The Hebrew verb marat, 'to pluck out', describes a public act of shaming rather than a beating; plucking the hair or beard humiliated the offender before the community (compare Isaiah 50:6). Ezra, faced with the same offense, tore out his own hair in grief (Ezra 9:3), whereas Nehemiah directs the gesture against the guilty men themselves.
- Nehemiah 13:26a Nehemiah invokes the account of 1 Kings 11:1-8, where Solomon's foreign wives turned his heart to other gods. The phrase "loved by his God" recalls 2 Samuel 12:24-25, where the child is named Yedidyah, 'beloved of the LORD'. The Hebrew nashim nokriyot, 'foreign women', is the same expression used throughout Ezra and Nehemiah for the marriages under dispute.
- Nehemiah 13:28a Sanballat the Horonite is attested outside Scripture: the Elephantine papyri (late fifth century BCE) name him governor of Samaria. Josephus identifies the expelled priest as Manasseh and connects him with the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim, though Josephus dates the episode a century later than Nehemiah.
About this translation
The Trinity Bible Version (TBV) is Trinity Bible's own modern English translation, worked directly from the original Hebrew and honest to the earliest manuscripts. It was completed in 2026 — the most modern English Bible translation — and is exclusive to Trinity Bible. Every chapter, including all of Nehemiah, is free to read here on the web.
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