2. For they did not meet Bnei-Yisrael with bread and water, but instead hired Balaam against them to curse them. However, our God turned the curse into a blessing.
3. When they heard the Torah, they separated from Israel all of mixed ancestry.
4. Prior to this Eliashib the kohen was given authority over the storerooms in the House of our God.
5. He was closely associated with Tobiah and provided him with a large chamber previously used to store the offerings, frankincense, and the Temple vessels, and also the tithes of grain, wine and oil prescribed for the Levites, singers and gatekeepers, along with the offerings for the kohanim.
6. I was not in Jerusalem during all this, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon, I went to the king. After a period of time, I requested to take leave from the king
7. and returned to Jerusalem. Then I discovered the evil that Eliashib had done by preparing a chamber for Tobiah in the courts of the House of God.
8. It greatly displeased me, so I threw all of Tobiah’s household goods outside of the storeroom
9. and commanded the storerooms to be cleansed. Then I restored the utensils of the House of God, the offerings and the frankincense.
10. I also learned that the portions for the Levites had not been provided, and that each of the Levites and singers who performed the work had gone back to his own field.
11. So I rebuked the leaders and asked, “Why has the House of God been forsaken?” I assembled them and stationed them at their posts.
12. Then all Judah brought the tithe of grain, new wine and oil to the storehouses.
13. I put Shelemiah the kohen, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah from the Levites in charge over the storehouses, and made Hanan son of Zaccur son of Mattaniah their assistant, because these men were considered faithful. They were responsible for distributing to their brothers.
14. Remember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out my loving kindness that I have done for the House of my God and for overseeing it.
15. In those days, I saw in Judah some people treading winepresses on the Shabbat, some bringing and loading heaps of grain on donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, figs and various other burdens, bringing them into Jerusalem on the Shabbat day. So I warned them about selling food on that day.
16. Men from Tyre who lived there were bringing fish and all kinds of merchandise and were selling it on the Yom Shabbat to the children of Judah, even in Jerusalem.
17. So I complained to the nobles of Judah and asked them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing? You are profaning Yom Shabbat!
18. Didn’t your ancestors do exactly the same causing our God to bring all this evil upon us and upon this city? So now you are bringing even more wrath upon Israel by profaning Yom Shabbat.”
19. When evening darkness began to fall on the gates of Jerusalem before Yom Shabbat, I commanded the doors to be shut. I further commanded that they should not be opened till after Yom Shabbat. I appointed some of my attendants over the gates so that no burden could enter during Shabbat.
20. Once or twice the traders and those selling all kinds of merchandise camped outside Jerusalem.
21. But I warned them and said to them, “Why are you camping next to the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you.” From that time they no longer came on the Shabbat.