1. On that day they read the Book of Moses to the people. They found that it said no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be allowed in the meeting to worship.
2. The Ammonites and Moabites had not welcomed the Israelites with food and water. Instead, they hired Balaam to put a curse on Israel. (But our God turned the curse into a blessing.)
3. The people heard this teaching. So they separated all foreigners from Israel.
4. Before that happened, Eliashib the priest was in charge of the Temple storerooms. He was friendly with Tobiah.
5. Eliashib let Tobiah use one of the large storerooms. That storeroom had been used for grain offerings, incense and other things for the Temple. It was also used for the tenth offerings of grain, new wine and olive oil. These belonged to the Levites, singers and gatekeepers. It had also been used for gifts for the priests.
6. I was not in Jerusalem when this happened. I had gone back to Artaxerxes king of Babylon. I went back in the thirty-second year he was king. Finally I asked the king to let me leave.
7. I came to Jerusalem. Then I found out the evil thing Eliashib had done. He had let Tobiah have a room in the Temple courtyard.
8. I was very upset at this. I threw all of Tobiah’s goods out of the room.
9. I ordered the rooms to be purified. And I brought back the things for God’s Temple, the grain offerings and the incense.
10. Then I found out the people were not giving the Levites their shares. So the Levites and singers who served had gone to their own farms.
11. So I argued with the officers. I said, “Why haven’t you taken care of the Temple?” Then I gathered the Levites and singers. I put them back at their places.
12. Then all the people of Judah brought a tenth of what they had gained in grain, new wine and olive oil. And they brought it to the storerooms.