Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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Separation from Foreigners
1 When the Law of Moses was
being read aloud to the people,
they came to the passage that
said that no Ammonite or Moabite
was ever to be permitted to join
God's people.
2 This was because the
people of Ammon and Moab did not
give food and water to the Israelites
on their way out of Egypt. Instead,
they paid money to Balaam to curse
Israel, but our God turned the curse
into a blessing. note note
3 When the people of
Israel heard this law read, they excluded
all foreigners from the community.
Nehemiah's Reforms
4 The priest Eliashib, who was in
charge of the Temple storerooms,
had for a long time been on good
terms with Tobiah.
5 He allowed Tobiah
to use a large room that was intended
only for storing offerings of
grain and incense, the equipment
used in the Temple, the offerings for
the priests, and the tithes of grain,
wine, and olive oil given to the Levites,
to the Temple musicians, and
to the Temple guards.
6 While this
was going on, I was not in Jerusalem,
because in the thirty-second
year that Artaxerxes note was king of
Babylon I had gone back to report to
him. After some time I received his
permission
7 and returned to Jerusalem.
There I was shocked to find that
Eliashib had allowed Tobiah to use a
room in the Temple.
8 I was furious
and threw out all of Tobiah's belongings.
9 I gave orders for the rooms to
be ritually purified and for the Temple
equipment, grain offerings, and
incense to be put back.
10 I also learned that the Temple
musicians and other Levites had left
Jerusalem and gone back to their
farms, because the people had not
been giving them enough to live on. note
11 I reprimanded the officials for letting
the Temple be neglected. And I
brought the Levites and musicians
back to the Temple and put them to
work again.
12 Then all the people of
Israel again started bringing to the
Temple storerooms their tithes of
grain, wine, and olive oil. note
13 I put the
following men in charge of the storerooms:
Shelemiah, a priest; Zadok, a
scholar of the Law; and Pedaiah, a
Levite. Hanan, the son of Zaccur and
grandson of Mattaniah, was to be
their assistant. I knew I could trust
these men to be honest in distributing
the supplies to their fellow workers.
14 Remember, my God, all these
things that I have done for your
Temple and its worship.
15 At that time I saw people in Judah
pressing juice from grapes on
the Sabbath. Others were loading
grain, wine, grapes, figs, and other
things on their donkeys and taking
them into Jerusalem; I warned them
not to sell anything on the Sabbath. note
16 Some men from the city of Tyre
were living in Jerusalem, and they
brought fish and all kinds of goods
into the city to sell to our people on
-- --
the Sabbath.
17 I reprimanded the
Jewish leaders and told them, “Look
at the evil you're doing! You're making
the Sabbath unholy.
18 This is exactly
why God punished your ancestors
when he brought destruction on
this city. And yet you insist on bringing
more of God's anger down on Israel
by profaning the Sabbath.”
19 So I gave orders for the city
gates to be shut at the beginning of
every Sabbath, as soon as evening note
began to fall, and not to be opened
again until the Sabbath was over. I
stationed some of my men at the
gates to make sure that nothing was
brought into the city on the Sabbath.
20 Once or twice merchants who sold
all kinds of goods spent Friday night
outside the city walls.
21 I warned
them, “It's no use waiting out there
for morning to come. If you try this
again, I'll use force on you.” From
then on they did not come back on
the Sabbath.
22 I ordered the Levites
to purify themselves and to go and
guard the gates to make sure that
the Sabbath was kept holy.
22 Remember me, O God, for this
also, and spare me because of your
great love.
23 At that time I also discovered
that many of the Jewish men had
married women from Ashdod, Ammon,
and Moab.
24 Half of their children
spoke the language of Ashdod
or some other language and didn't
know how to speak our language.
25 I
reprimanded the men, called down
curses on them, beat them, and
pulled out their hair. Then I made
them take an oath in God's name
that never again would they or their
children intermarry with foreigners. note
26 I told them, “It was foreign women
that made King Solomon sin. Here
was a man who was greater than
any of the kings of other nations.
God loved him and made him king
over all of Israel, and yet he fell into
this sin. note
27 Are we then to follow
your example and disobey our God
by marrying foreign women?”
28 Joiada was the son of Eliashib
the High Priest, but one of Joiada's
sons married the daughter of Sanballat,
from the town of Beth Horon,
so I made Joiada leave Jerusalem. note
29 Remember, God, how those people
defiled both the office of priest
and the covenant you made with the
priests and the Levites.
30 I purified the people from everything
foreign; I prepared regulations
for the priests and the Levites so
that each one would know his duty;
31 I arranged for the wood used for
burning the offerings to be brought
at the proper times, and for the people
to bring their offerings of the
first grain and the first fruits that
ripened.
31 Remember all this, O God, and
give me credit for it.
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Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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