Nehemiah 13:4–14

⁴Now before this, Eliashib the priest, a relative of Tobiah, had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God ⁵and 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.

⁶While all this was happening, I was not in Jerusalem, because I had returned to Artaxerxes king of Babylon^b in the thirty-second year of his reign. Some time later I obtained leave from the king ⁷to 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.

⁸And I was greatly displeased and threw all of Tobiah’s household goods out of the room. ⁹Then 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.

¹⁰I 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. ¹¹So 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, ¹²and all Judah brought a tenth of the grain, new wine, and oil into the storerooms. ¹³I 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.

¹⁴Remember 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.