Foreigners Excluded 1 UDB On that day the priests read and the people listened, and the passage was read with the laws God gave Moses that said no Amonite or Moabite was ever to be allowed to come into the place where God's people worship. BSB BSB: At that time the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people, and in it they found the passage stating that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God,
2 UDB The reason for that was that the people of Ammon and the people of Moab did not give any food or water to the Israelites while the Israelites were going through their areas after they left Egypt. Instead, the people of Ammon and Moab paid money to Balaam to influence him to curse the Israelites. But God turned that attempt to curse Israel into a blessing. BSB BSB: because they had not met the Israelites with food and water, but had hired Balaam to call down a curse against them (although our God had turned the curse into a blessing).
3 UDB So when the people heard these laws being read to them, they sent away all the people whose ancestors had come from other countries. BSB BSB: As soon as the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all of foreign descent.
The Temple Cleansed 4 UDB Previously, Eliashib the priest had been appointed to be in charge of the storerooms in the temple. He was a relative of Tobiah. BSB BSB: Now before this, Eliashib the priest, a relative of Tobiah, had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God
5 UDB He allowed Eliashib to use a large room. There they had stored the grain offerings and the incense. They put there the equipment that is used in the temple. They put in there the offerings the people gave for the Levites. They brought in tithes of grain and wine and olive oil that God had commanded for the Levites, for the musicians, and the gatekeepers. And they brought in the gifts to support the other priests. BSB BSB: and had prepared for Tobiah a large room where they had previously stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, the temple articles, and the tithes of grain, new wine, and oil prescribed for the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, along with the contributions for the priests.
6 UDB During that time I was not in Jerusalem. It was the thirty-second year that Artaxerxes was the king of Babylonia, and I had gone back to report to the king what I had been doing. After I had been there a while, I requested the king to allow me to return to Jerusalem. BSB BSB: While all this was happening, I was not in Jerusalem, because I had returned to Artaxerxes king of Babylon in the thirty-second year of his reign. Some time later I obtained leave from the king
7 UDB When I returned, I found out that Eliashib had done an evil thing. He let Tobiah take over a storeroom in the very house of God for his own use. BSB BSB: to return to Jerusalem. Then I discovered the evil that Eliashib had done on behalf of Tobiah by providing him a room in the courts of the house of God.
8 UDB I became very angry. I went to that room and I threw out everything that belonged to Tobiah. BSB BSB: And I was greatly displeased and threw all of Tobiah’s household goods out of the room.
9 UDB Then I commanded that they perform a ritual cleansing of that room to make it pure again. And I also ordered that all the equipment used in the temple and all the grain offerings and incense should be put back in that room, where they belonged. BSB BSB: Then I ordered that the rooms be purified, and I had the articles of the house of God restored to them, along with the grain offerings and frankincense.
Tithes Restored (Leviticus 27:30–34; Deuteronomy 14:22–29; Deuteronomy 26:1–15)
10 UDB I also found out that the temple musicians and other Levites had left Jerusalem and returned to their fields, because the people of Israel had not been bringing into the storerooms the food they needed. BSB BSB: I also learned that because the portions for the Levites had not been given to them, all the Levites and singers responsible for performing the service had gone back to their own fields.
11 UDB So I rebuked the officials, saying to them, "Why have you not taken care of the services to be held in the temple? So I got them together and put them back at their stations. BSB BSB: So I rebuked the officials and asked, “Why has the house of God been neglected?” Then I gathered the Levites and singers together and stationed them at their posts,
12 UDB Then all the people of Judah again started to bring to the temple storerooms their tithes of grain, wine, and olive oil. BSB BSB: and all Judah brought a tenth of the grain, new wine, and oil into the storerooms.
13 UDB I appointed these men to be in charge of the storerooms. Shelemiah the priest, Zadok, an expert in the Jewish laws, and Pedaiah, a descendant of Levi. I appointed Hanan son of Zaccur and grandson of Mattaniah to assist them. I knew that I could trust those men to distribute the offerings fairly to their fellow workers. BSB BSB: I appointed as treasurers over the storerooms Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, with Hanan son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah, to assist them, because they were considered trustworthy. They were responsible for distributing the supplies to their fellow Levites.
14 UDB My God, do not forget all these good deeds that I have done for your temple and for the work that is done there! BSB BSB: Remember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out my deeds of loving devotion for the house of my God and for its services.
The Sabbath Restored (Jeremiah 17:19–27)
15 UDB During that time, I saw some people in Judea who were working on the Sabbath day. Some were pressing grapes to make wine. Others were putting grain, bags of wine, baskets of grapes, figs, and many other things on their donkeys and taking them into Jerusalem. I warned them not to sell things to the people of Judea on Sabbath days. BSB BSB: In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, along with wine, grapes, and figs. All kinds of goods were being brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I warned them against selling food on that day.
16 UDB I also saw some people from Tyre who were living there in Jerusalem who were bringing fish and other things into Jerusalem to sell to the people of Judea on the Sabbath day. BSB BSB: Additionally, men of Tyre who lived there were importing fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah in Jerusalem.
17 UDB So I rebuked the Jewish leaders and told them, "This is a very evil thing that you are doing! You are making the Sabbath days into something God never wanted it to be. BSB BSB: Then I rebuked the nobles of Judah and asked, “What is this evil you are doing—profaning the Sabbath day?
18 UDB Your ancestors did things like this, so God punished them. He allowed this city to be destroyed because of their sin! And now by breaking the laws for the Sabbath day, you are going to cause God to be angry with us, and he will punish us even more!" BSB BSB: Did not your forefathers do the same things, so that our God brought all this disaster on us and on this city? And now you are rekindling His wrath against Israel by profaning the Sabbath!”
19 UDB When it became dark at the gates of Jerusalem, I put some of my men there, so they would make sure that no one could bring any goods into the city to sell on that day. BSB BSB: When the evening shadows began to fall on the gates of Jerusalem, just before the Sabbath, I ordered that the gates be shut and not opened until after the Sabbath. I posted some of my servants at the gates so that no load could enter on the Sabbath day.
20 UDB The merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods and merchandise camped outside Jerusalem a few times on Friday evening when the Sabbath begins, hoping to sell something the next day. BSB BSB: Once or twice, the merchants and those who sell all kinds of goods camped outside Jerusalem,
21 UDB I warned them, "It is useless for you to stay here outside the walls on Friday night! If you do this again, I will take you and remove you myself!" So after that, they did not come on Sabbath days. BSB BSB: but I warned them, “Why are you camping in front of the wall? If you do it again, I will lay hands on you.” From that time on, they did not return on the Sabbath.
22 UDB I also commanded the descendants of Levi to perform the ritual to purify themselves and to take up their stations to guard the City Gates, to make sure that the Sabbath was kept holy by not allowing merchants to enter it on that holy day. My God, do not forget what I have done for you! And be kind to me, as kind as your love is for me. BSB BSB: Then I instructed the Levites to purify themselves and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember me for this as well, O my God, and show me mercy according to Your abundant loving devotion.
Intermarriage Forbidden (Ezra 9:1–4)
23 UDB During that time, I also found out that many of the Jewish men had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. BSB BSB: In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.
24 UDB Half of their children spoke the language that people in Ashdod speak or some other language, and they did not know how to speak the language of Judah, only the language of the people where they lived. BSB BSB: Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or of the other peoples, but could not speak the language of Judah.
25 UDB So I rebuked those men, and I asked God to curse them, and I struck some of them with my fists, and some of them I pulled out their hair! Then I forced them to make a solemn promise, knowing that God was listening, that they would never again marry foreigners and never allow their children to marry foreigners. BSB BSB: I rebuked them and called down curses on them. I beat some of these men and pulled out their hair. Then I made them take an oath before God and said, “You must not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters as wives for your sons or for yourselves!
26 UDB I said to them, "Solomon, the king of Israel, sinned as a result of marrying foreign women. He was greater than any of the kings of other nations. God loved him and set him as the king over all the people of Israel. But his foreign wives caused even him to sin. BSB BSB: Did not King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations, and he was loved by his God, who made him king over all Israel—yet foreign women drew him into sin.
27 UDB Do you think that we should do what you have done, you who married foreign wives, and do what we know is wrong, and commit a great sin against our God by marrying foreign women who worship idols?" BSB BSB: Must we now hear that you too are doing all this terrible evil and acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?”
29 UDB My God, remember those who brought shame to the priesthood, and they broke the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites by what they have done! BSB BSB: Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.
30 UDB I took away everything from them that was from other nations and religions, I also established regulations for the priests and descendants of Levi, so they would know what work each of them should do. BSB BSB: Thus I purified the priests and Levites from everything foreign, and I assigned specific duties to each of the priests and Levites.
31 UDB I made sure that there was wood to be burned on the altar at the set times and days. I also arranged for the people to bring into the storerooms the first portion of the harvest. My God, do not forget that I have done all these things, and bless me for doing them. BSB BSB: I also arranged for contributions of wood at the appointed times, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, with favor.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.