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.
13. I put these men in charge of the storerooms: Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the teacher and Pedaiah a Levite. I made Hanan son of Zaccur their helper. (Zaccur was the son of Mattaniah.) Everyone knew they were honest men. They gave out the portions that went to their relatives.
14. Remember me, my God, for this. Do not ignore my love for the Temple and its service.
15. In those days I saw people in Judah working in the winepresses on the Sabbath day. People were bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys on the Sabbath day. People were bringing loads of wine, grapes and figs into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. I warned them about selling food on that day.
16. Men from the city of Tyre were living in Jerusalem. They brought in fish and other things. They sold them in Jerusalem on the Sabbath day to the people of Judah.
17. I argued with the important men of Judah. I said to them, “What is this evil thing you are doing? You are ruining the Sabbath day.
18. This is just what your ancestors did. So our God did terrible things to us and this city. Now you are making him even more angry at Israel. You are ruining the Sabbath day.”