Nehemiah 13:3

So when the people heard these laws being read to them, they sent away all the people whose ancestors had come from other countries.

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude.

In Context

2The reason for that was that the people of Ammon and the people of Moab did not give/sell any food or water to the Israelis while the Israelis were going through their areas after they left Egypt. Instead, the people of Ammon and Moab paid money to Balaam in order that he would curse the Israelis. But God commanded Balaam to bless the people, not to curse them.

4Previously, Eliashib the priest had been appointed to be in charge of the storerooms in the temple. He was a relative of our enemy Tobiah.

Read all of Nehemiah 13

Cross References

Numbers 11:4Then some troublemakers from other people-groups who were traveling with the Israelis began to want better food. And when they started complaining the Israeli people also started to complain.

Nehemiah 9:2The Israeli people separated themselves from all the foreigners. They stood there and confessed their sins and the sins that their ancestors had committed.

Psalms 19:7The instructions that Yahweh has given us are perfect; they ◄revive us/give us new strength►. We can be sure that the things that Yahweh has told us will never change, and by learning them people who have not been previously taught/instructed will become wise.

Psalms 119:11I have ◄memorized/stored in my mind► many of ◄your words/what you have promised► in order that I will not sin against you.

Romans 3:20It is not because people have done the things that God’s laws require that God will ◄erase the record of their sins/declare them no longer guilty for sin►, because no one has done those things completely. In fact, the result of our knowing God’s laws is that we know clearly that we have sinned (OR, are sinful).

Matthew Henry on Nehemiah 13:2-10

The People's Attention to Their Duty. ( b. c. 444.) 1 On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and therein was found written, that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever; 2 Because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them, that he should curse them: howbeit our God turned the curse into a blessing. 3 Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all… Read the whole commentary →

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