19. When evening shadows fell on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered the doors to be shut and not opened until the Sabbath was over. I stationed some of my own men at the gates so that no load could be brought in on the Sabbath day.
20. Once or twice the merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem.
21. But I warned them and said, ‘Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you do this again, I will arrest you.’ From that time on they no longer came on the Sabbath.
22. Then I commanded the Levites to purify themselves and go and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy.Remember me for this also, my God, and show mercy to me according to your great love.
23. Moreover, in those days I saw men of Judah who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab.
24. Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples, and did not know how to speak the language of Judah.
25. I rebuked them and called curses down on them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair. I made them take an oath in God’s name and said: ‘You are not to give your daughters in marriage to their sons, nor are you to take their daughters in marriage for your sons or for yourselves.
26. Was it not because of marriages like these that Solomon king of Israel sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, but even he was led into sin by foreign women.
27. Must we hear now that you too are doing all this terrible wickedness and are 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. And I drove him away from me.
29. Remember them, my God, because they defiled the priestly office and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.
30. So I purified the priests and the Levites of everything foreign, and assigned them duties, each to his own task.
31. I also made provision for contributions of wood at designated times, and for the firstfruits.Remember me with favour, my God.Footnotes for the Book of Nehemiaha 5 Or their Lord or the governorb 6 Or oldc 13 That is, about 450 metresd 15 Hebrew Shelah, a variant of Shiloah, that is, Siloame 16 Hebrew; Septuagint, some Vulgate manuscripts and Syriac tombf 18 Two Hebrew manuscripts and Syriac (see also Septuagint and verse 24); most Hebrew manuscripts Bavvaia 15 That is, about 460 gramsb 16 Most Hebrew manuscripts; some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac Ia 68 Some Hebrew manuscripts (see also Ezra 2:66); most Hebrew manuscripts do not have this verse.b 70 That is, about 8.4 kilogramsc 71 That is, about 170 kilograms; also in verse 72d 71 That is, about 1.2 metric tonse 72 That is, about 1.1 metric tonsa 5 Or God for ever and everb 9 Or the Sea of Reedsc 22 One Hebrew manuscript and Septuagint; most Hebrew manuscripts Sihon, that is, the country of thed 38 In Hebrew texts this verse (9:38) is numbered 10:1.a 14 Most Septuagint manuscripts; Hebrew their