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Nehemiah 13:4–9 — The Temple Cleansed. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

The Voices✦ 3 public domain

Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

indeed, there is a suspicious absence of Eliashib’s name throughout the high religious festivities of the preceding chapters.

An argument from silence, and Ellicott says so by calling it only suspicious: Eliashib's name is missing from the festivals of chapters 8 to 12.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

The full title is not, as some fancifully suggest, withheld out of respect for the office which was so degraded.

Cambridge is refusing a pious guess that the narrator suppressed the words "high priest" out of shame, and prefers a duller explanation.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

for such oversight of the chambers of the temple would certainly be entrusted to no simple priest, though this addition shows that this oversight did not absolutely form part of the high priest's office.

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

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·lip̄·nê miz·zeh ’el·yā·šîḇ hak·kō·hên qā·rō·wḇ lə·ṭō·w·ḇî·yāh nā·ṯūn bə·liš·kaṯ bêṯ- ’ĕ·lō·hê·nū

Word by word10 · parsed

וְלִפְנֵ֣יwə·lip̄·nêNow beforeH6440

√ pânîym — the face (as the part that turns)Conjunctive waw, Preposition-lNouncommon plural construct

pânîym: face, front, therefore "before" The idiom is literally "to the face of this." Cambridge insists the phrase has "no reference to the events of the preceding verses" and marks a jump back to before Nehemiah's return; K&D reads it as referring directly to the separation of the mixed multitude in v. 3. The brief preserves both readings and the text does not settle between them.

מִזֶּ֔הmiz·zehthisH2088

√ zeh — the masculine demonstrative pronoun, this or thatPreposition-mPronounmasculine singular

אֶלְיָשִׁיב֙’el·yā·šîḇEliashibH475

√ ʼElyâshîyb — Eljashib, the name of six IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

הַכֹּהֵ֔ןhak·kō·hênthe priestH3548

√ kôhên — literally one officiating, a priestArticleNounmasculine singular

kôhên: one officiating, a priest The bare title, not "the high priest." Cambridge treats this as "a certain objection against the identification" with the Eliashib of 3:1 and 13:28, then answers it: in old usage "the priest" was itself the customary title of the high priest. Poole and Benson allow that some other Eliashib could be meant; Gill, JFB, Pulpit and K&D all judge the high priest most probable, chiefly because no lesser man could have disposed of the temple chambers.

קָר֖וֹבqā·rō·wḇa relativeH7138

√ qârôwb — near (in place, kindred or time)Adjectivemasculine singular

qârôwb: near, in place, kindred or time The hinge of the verse. Nothing here says marriage outright; the narrative simply lays nearness to Tobiah beside oversight of the house of God and lets the reader feel the collision. Barnes supplies the mechanism from 6:18, that Tobiah and his son Johanan had each married a Jewess, and infers relation to Eliashib from that; K&D records Bertheau's conjecture along the same line and then states plainly, "How Tobiah was related to Eliashib is nowhere stated."

לְטוֹבִיָּֽה׃lə·ṭō·w·ḇî·yāhof TobiahH2900

√ Ṭôwbîyâh — Tobijah, the name of three Israelites and of one SamaritanPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular

Ṭôwbîyâh: Tobijah, a name The name means "Yah is good," which is part of its sting: a man carrying the divine name in his own is the Ammonite adversary of 2:10 and 4:3, and it is to him that the sanctuary's storeroom is opened.

נָת֖וּןnā·ṯūnhad been put in charge ofH5414

√ nâthan — to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etcVerbQalQalPassParticiplemasculine singular

nâthan: to give, put, set A Qal passive participle: he was given, placed, entrusted. The same root returns in v. 5 as an active participle for the storing of the offerings, so the verse holds one verb in two voices: the man was given the room where the holy things were given in. What was received as a trust became a thing to hand away.

בְּלִשְׁכַּ֣תbə·liš·kaṯthe storeroomsH3957

√ lishkâh — a room in a building (whether for storage, eating, or lodging)Preposition-bNounfeminine singular construct

lishkâh: a room in a building, for storage, eating or lodging The lexicon's own range is the trouble: the very word covers both a storeroom and a lodging, and the sin of the chapter is the slide from the one sense to the other. Ellicott glosses it as "the series of chambers running round three walls of the Temple"; Barnes calls it the "lean-to" of 1 Kings 6:5-10 that surrounded the temple on three sides.

בֵּית־bêṯ-of the houseH1004

√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcNounmasculine singular construct

אֱלֹהֵ֑ינוּ’ĕ·lō·hê·nūof our GodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural constructfirst person common plural

ʼĕlôhîym: God With the suffix "our." Nehemiah's memoir speaks in the first person plural when the holy things are in view ("the house of our God"), and in the bare third person when the desecration is being named (v. 7, "the house of the God"). The pronoun is small and it carries the indictment.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-before this, Eliashib the-priest, near-of-kin to-Tobiah, being-given over the-chamber-of the-house-of our-God,

Where the English smooths the original

קָר֖וֹב קָר֖וֹב (qā·rō·wḇ, H7138) is an adjective meaning near, in place, in time or in kindred. BSB reads "a relative," which is right in sense but loses the spatial edge: the word that describes how close Eliashib stood to Tobiah is the same word one uses of physical nearness. Pulpit: "Karob , the word translated 'allied,' means ' a relation,' either by blood or marriage." Cambridge compares Ruth 2:20, "The man is nigh of kin to us," and warns that the Septuagint and Vulgate misread the nearness as merely local.
נָת֖וּן נָת֖וּן (nā·ṯūn, H5414) is a Qal passive participle of nâthan, "to give": literally "being given (over the chamber)," not an active "had oversight." The English makes Eliashib a manager; the Hebrew makes him a man who was handed a trust by someone else. K&D notes the syntax is odd, since the verb is construed with b rather than the usual ʻal, and Pulpit renders it "being set over," guessing the setting was done by Nehemiah himself.
בְּלִשְׁכַּ֣ת בְּלִשְׁכַּ֣ת (bə·liš·kaṯ, H3957 lishkâh) is singular construct, "in the chamber of," though BSB pluralizes to "the storerooms." The plural is an interpretation, not the consonants. Cambridge: "The singular does not give the right meaning," and proposes reading lishkôth; K&D answers that the singular "may, however, be also understood collectively." Verse 9 has the undisputed plural.
אֱלֹהֵ֑ינוּ אֱלֹהֵ֑ינוּ (’ĕ·lō·hê·nū, H430 with first person plural suffix) is "our God," not the neutral "God" of verses 7 and 9. The possessive is Nehemiah's own, and it is the pressure point of the whole scandal: the chamber handed to an Ammonite belonged to the house of the God whom the narrator still calls ours.

and 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.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·ya·‘aś lōw ḡə·ḏō·w·lāh liš·kāh wə·šām hā·yū lə·p̄ā·nîm nō·ṯə·nîm ’eṯ- ham·min·ḥāh hal·lə·ḇō·w·nāh wə·hak·kê·lîm ū·ma‘·śar had·dā·ḡān hat·tî·rō·wōš wə·hay·yiṣ·hār miṣ·waṯ hal·wî·yim wə·ham·šō·rə·rîm wə·haš·šō·‘ă·rîm ū·ṯə·rū·maṯ hak·kō·hă·nîm

Word by word22 · parsed

וַיַּ֨עַשׂway·ya·‘aśand had preparedH6213

√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

ʻâsâh: to do or make, in the broadest sense Consecutive imperfect, carrying the narrative. K&D observes the grammar carefully: this verb is the predicate of the sentence begun in v. 4, "in the form of a conclusion following the accessory sentence of the subject." The making is the point toward which the whole description of Eliashib has been running.

ל֜וֹlōwfor [Tobiah]

Prepositionthird person masculine singular

גְדוֹלָ֗הḡə·ḏō·w·lāha largeH1419

√ gâdôwl — great (in any sense)Adjectivefeminine singular

gâdôwl: great in any sense Not a compliment. Older expositors, K&D reports, inferred from the plural "chambers" in v. 9 that the greatness was achieved by throwing several rooms into one, that is, by demolition inside the temple precinct to make space for a guest.

לִשְׁכָּ֣הliš·kāhroomH3957

√ lishkâh — a room in a building (whether for storage, eating, or lodging)Nounfeminine singular

וְשָׁ֣םwə·šāmwhereH8033

√ shâm — there (transferring to time) thenConjunctive wawAdverb

הָי֪וּhā·yū. . .H1961

√ hâyâh — to exist, iVerbQalPerfectthird person common plural

לְפָנִ֟יםlə·p̄ā·nîmthey had previouslyH6440

√ pânîym — the face (as the part that turns)Preposition-lNounmasculine plural

נֹ֠תְנִיםnō·ṯə·nîmstoredH5414

√ nâthan — to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etcVerbQalParticiplemasculine plural

nâthan: to give, put, set Masculine plural participle with hâyû: a periphrastic past of settled custom, "they used to be giving." The construction marks long habit, which is exactly what was broken.

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

הַמִּנְחָ֨הham·min·ḥāhthe grain offeringsH4503

√ minchâh — a donationArticleNounfeminine singular

minchâh: a donation, gift, offering The grain offering of Leviticus 2, fine flour with oil, salt and frankincense, the bloodless gift that accompanied the daily sacrifice. Pulpit describes its make-up and its place in the morning and evening service. Its storeroom is the room that was cleared for a man of Ammon.

הַלְּבוֹנָ֜הhal·lə·ḇō·w·nāhthe frankincenseH3828

√ lᵉbôwnâh — frankincense (from its whiteness or perhaps that of its smoke)ArticleNounfeminine singular

lᵉbôwnâh: frankincense, from its whiteness Required for the incense of Exodus 30:34 and sprinkled on the grain offering. Pulpit notes the practical reason it had to be warehoused: "As a rare foreign product, it had necessarily to be kept in store." It is named again in v. 9 as restored, which is how we know what was displaced.

וְהַכֵּלִ֗יםwə·hak·kê·lîmthe [temple] articlesH3627

√ kᵉlîy — something prepared, iConjunctive waw, ArticleNounmasculine plural

kᵉlîy: something prepared, an article, vessel The sacred vessels. The same noun returns in v. 8 for Tobiah's "household goods," literally the vessels of his house, so the narrative sets vessel against vessel: the utensils of the sanctuary put out, the utensils of a man's household put in.

וּמַעְשַׂ֤רū·ma‘·śarand the tithesH4643

√ maʻăsêr — a tenthConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct

הַדָּגָן֙had·dā·ḡānof grainH1715

√ dâgân — properly, increase, iArticleNounmasculine singular

הַתִּיר֣וֹשׁhat·tî·rō·wōšnew wineH8492

√ tîyrôwsh — must or fresh grape-juice (as just squeezed out)ArticleNounmasculine singular

וְהַיִּצְהָ֔רwə·hay·yiṣ·hārand oilH3323

√ yitshâr — oil (as producing light)Conjunctive waw, ArticleNounmasculine singular

מִצְוַת֙miṣ·waṯprescribedH4687

√ mitsvâh — a command, whether human or divine (collectively, the Law)Nounfeminine singular construct

mitsvâh: a command, human or divine, collectively the Law A construct noun, not an adjective: the tithe simply is "the commandment of the Levites." That framing is why withholding it in vv. 10 to 13 will count as theft rather than stinginess, and why Nehemiah can treat a storeroom as a matter of law.

הַלְוִיִּ֔םhal·wî·yimfor the LevitesH3881

√ Lêvîyîy — a Levite or descendant of LeviArticleNounpropermasculine plural

וְהַמְשֹׁרְרִ֖יםwə·ham·šō·rə·rîmsingersH7891

√ shîyr — to singConjunctive waw, ArticleVerbPielParticiplemasculine plural

shîyr: to sing A Piel participle, the singers as an order, not an activity. With the Levites and the gatekeepers they form the three groups whose maintenance came out of this chamber. Eliashib's guest was housed at their expense.

וְהַשֹּׁעֲרִ֑יםwə·haš·šō·‘ă·rîmand gatekeepersH7778

√ shôwʻêr — a janitorConjunctive waw, ArticleNounmasculine plural

וּתְרוּמַ֖תū·ṯə·rū·maṯalong with the contributionsH8641

√ tᵉrûwmâh — a present (as offered up), especially in sacrifice or as tributeConjunctive wawNounfeminine singular construct

tᵉrûwmâh: a present offered up, a heave offering K&D identifies it precisely: "the tenth of their tenth which the Levites had to contribute, Nehemiah 10:39." Cambridge agrees, "the priests' tithe of the Levites' tithe." So the priests' own portion was in the room the priest emptied.

הַכֹּהֲנִֽים׃hak·kō·hă·nîmfor the priestsH3548

√ kôhên — literally one officiating, a priestArticleNounmasculine plural

Literal — word-for-word from the original

and-he-made for-him a-chamber great, and-there they-were formerly giving the-grain-offering, the-frankincense, and-the-vessels, and-the-tithe-of the-grain, the-new-wine and-the-oil, the-commandment-of the-Levites and-the-singers and-the-gatekeepers, and-the-contribution-of the-priests.

Where the English smooths the original

וַיַּ֨עַשׂ וַיַּ֨עַשׂ (way·ya·‘aś, H6213 ʻâsâh) is simply "and he made," the broadest verb of doing in Hebrew. BSB's "had prepared" is smoother and less damaging. Cambridge notes the literalness ("Literally, 'had made'") and allows two senses: knocking smaller rooms into one, or merely fitting up and furnishing. The same verb reappears twice in v. 7 for the evil Eliashib did, so the narrative's own word links the making of the room to the doing of the wrong.
נֹ֠תְנִים נֹ֠תְנִים (nō·ṯə·nîm, H5414) is an active participle, "giving," rendered "stored" in BSB. The Hebrew for putting the tithes in the chamber is the verb of donation, not of warehousing: what lay in that room was not inventory but gift. Against it stands v. 4's passive participle of the same root, where the man himself was "given" the charge.
מִצְוַת֙ מִצְוַת֙ (miṣ·waṯ, H4687 mitsvâh) is "the commandment of the Levites," a noun in construct, flattened by BSB into the adjective "prescribed for." K&D reads it as "what was apportioned to the Levites according to the law, the legal dues for which mishpat is elsewhere usual"; Cambridge glosses it "the statutable right of," "the due of." The room did not merely hold food, it held an obligation.
לִשְׁכָּ֣ה לִשְׁכָּ֣ה (liš·kāh, H3957) stands here without the article and modified by gᵉdôlâh, "great." BSB's "a large room" is accurate, but the wordplay with v. 4's singular construct is lost: the chamber Eliashib was set over becomes a chamber he makes. Ellicott and Poole both take the greatness to mean partitions were removed.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

A general expression, denoting a considerable interval. To restrict its meaning to ‘a year’ on the strength of certain passages (e.g. Exodus 13:10 ; Leviticus 25:29 ; Numbers 9:22 ; Jdg 17:10 ) gives a very improbable explanation of the phrase, which is often used of a much more considerable period

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Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

Nehemiah probably went to the court at Babylon in 433 B.C., and returned to Jerusalem 432 B.C.

Barnes's dates are a reconstruction from Persian regnal years, not a datum of the text, and Gill in the same brief argues for a different king entirely.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

The view of several expositors, that ימים means a year, is devoid of proof. The stay of Nehemiah at court must have lasted longer than a year, since so many illegal acts on the part of the community as Nehemiah on his return discovered to have taken place, could not have occurred in so short a time.

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

there being none left whose authority or frown he dreaded, allowed himself to do things most unworthy of his sacred office

A character judgment on Eliashib that the text of vv. 4 to 9 supports by his actions but never states in words.

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

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ū·ḇə·ḵāl zeh hā·yî·ṯî lō bî·rū·šā·lim kî bā·ṯî ’el- lə·’ar·taḥ·šast me·leḵ- bā·ḇel šə·lō·šîm ū·šə·ta·yim biš·naṯ ham·me·leḵ ū·lə·qêṣ yā·mîm niš·’al·tî min- ham·me·leḵ

Word by word20 · parsed

וּבְכָל־ū·ḇə·ḵālWhile allH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeConjunctive waw, Preposition-bNounmasculine singular construct

זֶ֕הzehthisH2088

√ zeh — the masculine demonstrative pronoun, this or thatPronounmasculine singular

הָיִ֖יתִיhā·yî·ṯîwas happeningH1961

√ hâyâh — to exist, iVerbQalPerfectfirst person common singular

לֹ֥אlōI was notH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

lôʼ: not The pivot of the unit's whole architecture. The reform narrative is built on an absence, and this one negative particle is the reason there is a chapter 13 at all.

בִּֽירוּשָׁלִָ֑םbî·rū·šā·limin JerusalemH3389

√ Yᵉrûwshâlaim — Jerushalaim or Jerushalem, the capital city of PalestinePreposition-bNounproperfeminine singular

כִּ֡יkîbecauseH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

בָּ֣אתִיbā·ṯîI had returnedH935

√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)VerbQalPerfectfirst person common singular

אֶל־’el-toH413

√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition

לְאַרְתַּחְשַׁ֤סְתְּאlə·’ar·taḥ·šastArtaxerxesH783

√ ʼArtachshashtâʼ — Artachshasta (or Artaxerxes), a title (rather than name) of several Persian kingsPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular

ʼArtachshashtâʼ: Artaxerxes, a title rather than a name of several Persian kings The lexicon itself records that this is a throne title, not a personal name, which is why the identification is disputed in the sources: Gill argues for Darius Hystaspis on the length of reign, Geneva's marginal note likewise says "Called also Darius," while Cambridge and Barnes date the thirty-second year to 433 B.C. under Artaxerxes I. The brief does not settle it and neither do we.

מֶֽלֶךְ־me·leḵ-kingH4428

√ melek — a kingNounmasculine singular construct

בָּבֶל֙bā·ḇelof BabylonH894

√ Bâbel — Babel (iNounproperfeminine singular

שְׁלֹשִׁ֨יםšə·lō·šîmin the thirty-secondH7970

√ shᵉlôwshîym — thirtyNumbercommon plural

shᵉlôwshîym: thirty With ûšᵉtayim, thirty and two. Read against Nehemiah 5:14 this fixes roughly twelve years of governorship before the absence, which is the measure of how much a man builds and how fast it can be undone.

וּשְׁתַּ֜יִםū·šə·ta·yim. . .H8147

√ shᵉnayim — twoConjunctive wawNumberfd

בִּשְׁנַת֩biš·naṯyearH8141

√ shâneh — a year (as a revolution of time)Preposition-bNounfeminine singular construct

הַמֶּ֔לֶךְham·me·leḵof his reignH4428

√ melek — a kingArticleNounmasculine singular

וּלְקֵ֥ץū·lə·qêṣSome time laterH7093

√ qêts — an extremityConjunctive waw, Preposition-lNounmasculine singular construct

qêts: an extremity, an end The construct "end of days" is a genuinely indefinite Hebrew idiom. Cambridge points to Genesis 4:3 and 1 Kings 17:7 for long, vague stretches; K&D reasons backward from the amount of damage, that "so many illegal acts" could not have piled up in a single year. That is an argument from consequence, and it is honest to name it as such.

יָמִ֖יםyā·mîm. . .H3117

√ yôwm — a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)Nounmasculine plural

נִשְׁאַ֥לְתִּיniš·’al·tîI obtained leaveH7592

√ shâʼal — to inquireVerbNifalPerfectfirst person common singular

shâʼal: to inquire, to ask Niphal perfect, first person. K&D reads the stem as in 1 Samuel 20:6 and 20:28, where David "earnestly asked leave," and notes the point of order behind it: Nehemiah had never resigned his post as cup-bearer, so a second absence had to be begged like the first (2:5). The governor of Judah is here a servant asking permission.

מִן־min-fromH4480

√ min — properly, a part ofPreposition

הַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃ham·me·leḵthe kingH4428

√ melek — a kingArticleNounmasculine singular

melek: a king The word appears three times in this one verse, of Artaxerxes and of no one else. A chapter about the house of God opens with a paragraph in which the only king in view is a Persian.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-in-all this I-was not in-Jerusalem, for in-year thirty and-two of-Artaxerxes king-of Babylon I-came to the-king; and-at-the-end-of days I-asked-leave from the-king.

Where the English smooths the original

בָּ֣אתִי בָּ֣אתִי (bā·ṯî, H935 bôwʼ) is "I came, I went," a plain verb of motion; BSB reads "I had returned." Cambridge marks the same softening from the other side ("came I ] R.V. I went") and admits what has to be supplied: "We are left to suppose that Nehemiah had some time previously returned from Jerusalem to his post." The Hebrew narrates less than the English does.
נִשְׁאַ֥לְתִּי נִשְׁאַ֥לְתִּי (niš·’al·tî, H7592 shâʼal) is Niphal, not Qal: "I was asked for" or, in the reflexive sense, "I asked leave for myself." BSB's "I obtained leave" reports a result the verb does not state. Pulpit lays out the split: "Gesenius and Professor Lee render, 'I asked leave of the king;' Houbigant, Rambach, and others, 'I was asked for from the king.'" K&D adds that the object of the asking "is not expressly stated."
וּלְקֵ֥ץ וּלְקֵ֥ץ יָמִ֖ים (ū·lə·qêṣ yā·mîm, H7093 with H3117) is "and at the end of days," not BSB's "some time later." Every attempt to fix the span is inference: Benson and Poole read "at the year's end," Barnes cites Exodus 13:10 and Leviticus 25:29 for that sense, while Cambridge and K&D both refuse it, K&D calling the year reading "devoid of proof."
בָּבֶל֙ בָּבֶל֙ (bā·ḇel, H894) names Artaxerxes "king of Babylon," which no Persian chancery would have written. Barnes compares Ezra 6:22, where Darius is "king of Assyria"; Cambridge calls it "a natural one in the lips of a Jew"; K&D thinks the title also "express also the fact that he had travelled to Babylon." BSB keeps the oddity, and it should be kept: the empire is named by the city the exile remembers.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

inflicted by the pernicious example of the high-priest lay in the disregard of all the measures recently taken to separate the people from

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

It would seem by this expression that the chamber made over to Tobiah was not part of the main building of the temple, but a portion of some detached building belonging to the "courts." This, no doubt, made the desecration less flagrant, but was far from justifying it.

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Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s

By these means he had formed an interest, and was looked upon as a worthy man, though, being an Ammonite, he could not but bear a national hatred to all that were of the race of Israel.

Benson is quoting Prideaux, and the marriages he cites come from Nehemiah 6:18 and 3:4; the claim about a necessary "national hatred" is the commentator's characterization, not the text's.

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Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599

Thus we see to what inconveniences the people fall into when they are destitute of one who fears God, seeing that their chief governor was absent only for a little while and yet they fell into such great absurdities

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to 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.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wā·’ā·ḇō·w lî·rū·šā·lim wā·’ā·ḇî·nāh ḇā·rā·‘āh ’ă·šer ’el·yā·šîḇ ‘ā·śāh lə·ṭō·w·ḇî·yāh la·‘ă·śō·wṯ lōw niš·kāh bə·ḥaṣ·rê bêṯ hā·’ĕ·lō·hîm

Word by word14 · parsed

וָאָב֖וֹאwā·’ā·ḇō·wto returnH935

√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectfirst person common singular

לִֽירוּשָׁלִָ֑םlî·rū·šā·limto JerusalemH3389

√ Yᵉrûwshâlaim — Jerushalaim or Jerushalem, the capital city of PalestinePreposition-lNounproperfeminine singular

וָאָבִ֣ינָהwā·’ā·ḇî·nāhThen I discoveredH995

√ bîyn — to separate mentally (or distinguish), iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectfirst person common singularthird person feminine singular

bîyn: to separate mentally, to distinguish The verb of discernment, not of discovery. There is a quiet irony in the root: the chapter began with Israel separating the mixed multitude (v. 3), and the governor now applies the same faculty of separating to the state of the temple, only to find that separation itself has failed at the highest level.

בָרָעָ֗הḇā·rā·‘āhthe evilH7451

√ raʻ — bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral)Preposition-b, ArticleAdjectivefeminine singular

raʻ: bad, or as noun evil, natural or moral Cambridge locates the evil precisely, not in general laxity but in the collapse of the policy of v. 3: the high priest's example undid "all the measures recently taken to separate the people" from the nations. Geneva reads the same event as a lesson about vacancy in godly leadership and reaches for Exodus 32:1, where the people fall the moment Moses is off the mountain.

אֲשֶׁ֨ר’ă·šerthatH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

אֶלְיָשִׁיב֙’el·yā·šîḇEliashibH475

√ ʼElyâshîyb — Eljashib, the name of six IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

עָשָׂ֤ה‘ā·śāhhad doneH6213

√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular

ʻâsâh: to do or make Perfect, of the completed deed, and immediately repeated in the infinitive construct at index 8. The verse uses one verb twice, "did ... to make," so that the moral act and the carpentry are named by the same word. Cambridge marks the perfect tense as significant: the evil is "this notorious instance, combining sacrilege towards the Temple and complaisance towards the idolater."

לְט֣וֹבִיָּ֔הlə·ṭō·w·ḇî·yāhon behalf of TobiahH2900

√ Ṭôwbîyâh — Tobijah, the name of three Israelites and of one SamaritanPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular

לַעֲשׂ֥וֹתla·‘ă·śō·wṯby providingH6213

√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationPreposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct

לוֹ֙lōwhim

Prepositionthird person masculine singular

נִשְׁכָּ֔הniš·kāha roomH5393

√ nishkâh — a cellNounfeminine singular

nishkâh: a cell A rare noun, occurring in only three verses. Nehemiah 3:30 uses it of the chamber of Meshullam son of Berechiah, and Nehemiah 6:18 records that Tobiah's son married Meshullam's daughter. The brief supplies each of those facts separately; the lexical overlap is verified by the Verifier and noted in the threads below, though the text itself never draws the line.

בְּחַצְרֵ֖יbə·ḥaṣ·rêin the courtsH2691

√ châtsêr — a yard (as inclosed by a fence)Preposition-bNouncommon plural construct

בֵּ֥יתbêṯof the houseH1004

√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcNounmasculine singular construct

הָאֱלֹהִֽים׃hā·’ĕ·lō·hîmof GodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseArticleNounmasculine plural

ʼĕlôhîym: God "The house of the God," with the article and without the possessive "our" of v. 4. In the verse that names the evil, the narrator's warm pronoun drops away.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-I-came to-Jerusalem, and-I-gave-heed to the-evil that Eliashib had-done for-Tobiah, to-make for-him a-cell in-the-courts-of the-house-of the-God.

Where the English smooths the original

וָאָבִ֣ינָה וָאָבִ֣ינָה (wā·’ā·ḇî·nāh, H995 bîyn) is not "I discovered" but "I perceived, I understood, I gave my mind to." The root means to separate mentally, to discern. Cambridge glosses it exactly so: "i.e. 'gave attention to,' 'perceived its significance.'" K&D notes the same construction with b at Ezra 8:15. Nehemiah is not stumbling on news; he is weighing what it means.
בָרָעָ֗ה בָרָעָ֗ה (ḇā·rā·‘āh, H7451 raʻ) is "the evil," definite, with the article, a moral verdict placed in the narrator's own mouth. BSB keeps it. The same root will reappear in v. 8 as a verb of Nehemiah's inner state, so the evil that is seen becomes the evil that is felt.
נִשְׁכָּ֔ה נִשְׁכָּ֔ה (niš·kāh, H5393) is a different and rare word from the lishkâh of vv. 4, 5, 8 and 9: a "cell," appearing in only three verses in the whole Hebrew Bible. BSB translates both as "room," which is defensible but conceals a real lexical shift at precisely the moment the narrator names the crime.
בְּחַצְרֵ֖י בְּחַצְרֵ֖י (bə·ḥaṣ·rê, H2691 châtsêr) is "in the courts of," a plural construct, a word whose root sense is an enclosure fenced in. Pulpit takes the phrase to locate the room outside the main building, and judges that this "made the desecration less flagrant, but was far from justifying it." The word for a fenced place is the word under which the fence was breached.

The Voices✦ 3 public domain

Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

The second time we read of Nehemiah’s deep emotion: first, because of the utter dissoluteness of which this was a token; and secondly, because it was a priestly desecration.

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

That such a sacred place should be converted to common use, and to that of an Heathen, and of an enemy to the Jews and their religion

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Matthew HenryConcise Commentary on the Whole Bible1706

Those that would drive sin out of their hearts, the living temples, must throw out its household stuff, and all the provision made for it; and take away all the things that are the food and fuel of lust; this is really to mortify it.

Henry is reading the episode morally, of the believer's heart as temple; the application is his, not a claim about Nehemiah's intent.

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

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

mə·’ōḏ way·yê·ra‘ lî wā·’aš·lî·ḵāh ’eṯ- kāl- ṭō·w·ḇî·yāh ḇêṯ- kə·lê ha·ḥūṣ min- hal·liš·kāh

Word by word12 · parsed

מְאֹ֑דmə·’ōḏAnd I was greatlyH3966

√ mᵉʼôd — properly, vehemence, iAdverb

mᵉʼôd: vehemence, muchness The adverb stands first in the Hebrew clause order recorded here, before the verb, which is unusual weight. Ellicott counts this as "the second time we read of Nehemiah's deep emotion" and separates its two causes, the dissoluteness and the specifically priestly character of the desecration.

וַיֵּ֥רַֽעway·yê·ra‘displeasedH7489

√ râʻaʻ — properly, to spoil (literally, by breaking to pieces)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

râʻaʻ: to spoil, literally by breaking to pieces The consecutive imperfect of an impersonal construction, "and it was grievous to me." Cambridge hears the deliberate echo of Nehemiah 2:10, where the same idiom described how Sanballat and Tobiah felt about a man coming to seek the welfare of Israel. The grief in the book runs both ways, and both parties use the same word for it.

לִ֖יlî

Prepositionfirst person common singular

וָֽאַשְׁלִ֜יכָהwā·’aš·lî·ḵāhand threwH7993

√ shâlak — to throw out, down or away (literally or figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectfirst person common singularthird person feminine singular

shâlak: to throw out, down or away Hiphil, first person, with the cohortative ending: not a decree issued but an act done. Nothing in the verse mentions consultation, a court, or a priest. Gill grounds the legality in office rather than in anger: Nehemiah acted "as being chief magistrate, and acting by commission under the king of Persia," with power like Ezra's in Ezra 7:25.

אֶֽת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

כָּל־kāl-allH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct

kôl: the whole "All." Not a sample, not a warning. The same word opened v. 6 ("in all this") of Nehemiah's total absence; here it measures the totality of the reversal.

טוֹבִיָּ֛הṭō·w·ḇî·yāhof Tobiah’sH2900

√ Ṭôwbîyâh — Tobijah, the name of three Israelites and of one SamaritanNounpropermasculine singular

בֵית־ḇêṯ-householdH1004

√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcNounmasculine singular construct

כְּלֵ֧יkə·lêgoodsH3627

√ kᵉlîy — something prepared, iNounmasculine plural construct

kᵉlîy: something prepared, an article or vessel The word is the same in v. 5, v. 8 and v. 9. Cambridge notes the archaic English behind "stuff" and cites Genesis 31:37 and 1 Samuel 10:22 for the usage; K&D reads the furniture as evidence for the room's real function: "From the words household stuff, it appears that Tobiah used the chamber as a dwelling when he came from time to time to Jerusalem."

הַח֖וּץha·ḥūṣoutH2351

√ chûwts — properly, separate by awall, iArticleNounmasculine singular

מִן־min-ofH4480

√ min — properly, a part ofPreposition

הַלִּשְׁכָּֽה׃hal·liš·kāhthe roomH3957

√ lishkâh — a room in a building (whether for storage, eating, or lodging)ArticleNounfeminine singular

lishkâh: a room for storage, eating or lodging Singular and definite here, which is why Barnes must explain v. 9's plural as meaning that the great chamber "contained, it would seem, more than one apartment."

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-it-was-evil to-me exceedingly, and-I-flung-out all the-vessels-of the-house-of Tobiah outside, from the-chamber.

Where the English smooths the original

וַיֵּ֥רַֽע וַיֵּ֥רַֽע (way·yê·ra‘, H7489 râʻaʻ) is impersonal: "and it was evil to me," literally "and it spoiled with respect to me." The root means to spoil, to break in pieces. BSB's "I was greatly displeased" makes Nehemiah the subject; the Hebrew makes the deed the subject and Nehemiah the one it breaks. It is also the verbal twin of raʻ in v. 7: the evil he perceived is now the evil that acts on him.
וָֽאַשְׁלִ֜יכָה וָֽאַשְׁלִ֜יכָה (wā·’aš·lî·ḵāh, H7993 shâlak) is Hiphil, "to throw out, down or away," the verb used for hurling. "Threw" in BSB is fair, but the cohortative shape and the causative stem give a violence of gesture that a modern reader hears as tidying. Pulpit registers the force: "Nehemiah, of his own authority, had the whole of it turned out of doors."
כְּלֵ֧י בֵית־כְּלֵ֧י (ḇêṯ- kə·lê, H1004 with H3627) is literally "the vessels of the house of Tobiah," as Cambridge says: "Literally, 'all the vessels of the house.'" BSB's "household goods" is idiomatic and hides the collision, since kᵉlîy is exactly the word used in v. 5 and v. 9 for the sacred vessels. One noun, two houses, and the question of the chapter is which house the vessels belong to.
הַח֖וּץ הַח֖וּץ (ha·ḥūṣ, H2351) is a noun, "the outside," from a root meaning to separate by a wall, and BSB renders it adverbially, "out." Read with min, "from the chamber," the sentence draws a line: there is an inside that is holy and an outside that is not, and the goods are put across it.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

It is a note of minute accuracy that there is no mention of tithes being brought back as yet; the next verses show why.

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

as this was a ceremonial uncleanness, contracted by the habitation of an Heathen in them, their purification might be by the water of separation

The identification of the rite with Numbers 19:9 is Gill's inference; JFB cites Numbers 15:9 for the same act, and the verse names no rite at all.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

But a comparison with the list, Nehemiah 13:5 , suggests the possibility that the withholding of the tithe from the Levites, which called for the fresh regulations in Nehemiah 13:10-14 , will account for the omission of the Levitical and priestly portions in this list.

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Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s

Thus when sin is cast out of the heart by repentance, and faith in the blood of Christ, let it be furnished with the graces of God’s Spirit, and such holy gifts and blessings as will thoroughly fit it for every good work.

Benson's closing sentence is devotional application, close to Henry's wording on the same passage; it is not a claim about the historical narrative.

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Then 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.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wā·’ō·mə·rāh hal·lə·šā·ḵō·wṯ way·ṭa·hă·rū kə·lê bêṯ hā·’ĕ·lō·hîm ’eṯ- wā·’ā·šî·ḇāh šām ham·min·ḥāh wə·hal·lə·ḇō·w·nāh

Word by word11 · parsed

וָאֹ֣מְרָ֔הwā·’ō·mə·rāhThen I orderedH559

√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectfirst person common singularthird person feminine singular

ʼâmar: to say, used with great latitude First person consecutive imperfect. The plainness matters: the chapter's reforms are a sequence of speech acts followed immediately by results, and the narrator claims no more power than a word that was obeyed.

הַלְּשָׁכ֑וֹתhal·lə·šā·ḵō·wṯthat the roomsH3957

√ lishkâh — a room in a building (whether for storage, eating, or lodging)ArticleNounfeminine plural

וַֽיְטַהֲר֖וּway·ṭa·hă·rūbe purifiedH2891

√ ṭâhêr — to be pure (physical sound, clear, unadulteratedConjunctive wawVerbPielConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural

ṭâhêr: to be pure, clear, unadulterated Piel, third plural: others did the cleansing, and the subject is impersonal, as Cambridge notes ("'they,' impersonal"). The verb belongs to the priestly vocabulary of Leviticus and Numbers, which is the sharpest irony of the unit: the governor has to command the priestly act because the priest set over the chambers is the one who defiled them.

כְּלֵי֙kə·lêand I had the articlesH3627

√ kᵉlîy — something prepared, iNounmasculine plural construct

kᵉlîy: an article, vessel, implement The vessels of the house of God return to the room from which the vessels of the house of Tobiah have just been thrown. Verse 8 and verse 9 use the identical noun, and the whole reform can be read as the sorting of one word into its rightful house.

בֵּ֣יתbêṯof the houseH1004

√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcNounmasculine singular construct

הָאֱלֹהִ֔יםhā·’ĕ·lō·hîmof GodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseArticleNounmasculine plural

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Preposition

וָאָשִׁ֣יבָהwā·’ā·šî·ḇāhrestoredH7725

√ shûwb — to turn back (hence, away) transitively or intransitively, literally or figuratively (not necessarily with the idea of return to the starting point)Conjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectfirst person common singularthird person feminine singular

shûwb: to turn back or away, literally or figuratively Hiphil, causative. The lexicon is careful that the root does not necessarily imply return to a starting point, but here it plainly does: the same items, the same room, the prior order. This is restoration, not innovation, and the whole chapter's reform logic is that recovery of what was commanded.

שָּׁ֗םšāmto themH8033

√ shâm — there (transferring to time) thenAdverb

הַמִּנְחָ֖הham·min·ḥāhalong with the grain offeringsH4503

√ minchâh — a donationArticleNounfeminine singular

minchâh: a donation, grain offering Named again with the frankincense, and the tithes of v. 5 are conspicuously not named. Ellicott calls the omission "a note of minute accuracy" and points forward: the tithes were not there to bring back, which vv. 10 to 13 will explain.

וְהַלְּבוֹנָֽה׃פwə·hal·lə·ḇō·w·nāhand frankincenseH3828

√ lᵉbôwnâh — frankincense (from its whiteness or perhaps that of its smoke)Conjunctive waw, ArticleNounfeminine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-I-said, and-they-purified the-chambers; and-I-brought-back there the-vessels-of the-house-of the-God, the-grain-offering and-the-frankincense.

Where the English smooths the original

וָאֹ֣מְרָ֔ה וָאֹ֣מְרָ֔ה (wā·’ō·mə·rāh, H559 ʼâmar) is simply "and I said," the ordinary verb of speech; BSB reads "Then I ordered." The command is real but the Hebrew records only a word spoken and a thing done, one clause after another: "and I said, and they purified." The authority is in the sequence, not in the vocabulary.
וַֽיְטַהֲר֖וּ וַֽיְטַהֲר֖וּ (way·ṭa·hă·rū, H2891 ṭâhêr) is Piel, the intensive, causative sense: not "be pure" but "make clean," a ritual act. Ellicott: "There was a formal purification." Poole and Gill both point to the water of separation in Numbers 19:9, and JFB names Numbers 15:9 instead; the text itself specifies no rite, and the difference between those citations is a real gap in the sources.
הַלְּשָׁכ֑וֹת הַלְּשָׁכ֑וֹת (hal·lə·šā·ḵō·wṯ, H3957) is unambiguously plural here, where v. 4 was singular and v. 8 singular. This plural is the evidence on which Cambridge, Poole, Barnes and K&D all reason back to what happened in v. 5, that several chambers had been made into one.
וָאָשִׁ֣יבָה וָאָשִׁ֣יבָה (wā·’ā·šî·ḇāh, H7725 shûwb) is Hiphil of the great verb of turning back, causative: "and I caused to return." BSB's "restored" is accurate and colorless. shûwb is the root of repentance and of the return from exile, and here a returned governor causes the vessels to return. The reform is described in the vocabulary of homecoming.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The man who was given, and gave away — 13:4 to 13:5

The unit opens on a grammatical fact that the English translations soften. Eliashib is נָת֖וּן (nā·ṯūn), a Qal passive participle: he was given over the chamber. One verse later the same root nâthan appears as an active participle for what used to happen in that chamber, where the people "were giving" the grain offering, the frankincense, the vessels and the tithes. A man who received a trust turns it into a thing he can bestow. Standing between the two is the adjective קָר֖וֹב (qā·rō·wḇ), nearness: Pulpit records that it "means ' a relation,' either by blood or marriage," and Cambridge compares Ruth 2:20 while warning that the Septuagint's ἐγγίων and the Vulgate's proximus misread it as mere local vicinity. What relationship it was, no one in the brief can say. K&D states the limit flatly: "How Tobiah was related to Eliashib is nowhere stated." Barnes supplies the likeliest mechanism from Nehemiah 6:18, the two marriages into Jewish families, and K&D records Bertheau's version of the same conjecture. ⚙ The text is content to lay nearness beside oversight and leave the reader to feel the short circuit. Whether Eliashib is the high priest is likewise argued: Cambridge grants that the bare title "the priest" is "a certain objection against the identification," then answers it, while JFB, Gill, Poole, Pulpit and K&D all judge that no lesser man could have disposed of the temple's chambers. Ellicott adds a quieter argument, that there is "a suspicious absence of Eliashib's name throughout the high religious festivities of the preceding chapters." It is an argument from silence and Ellicott marks it as no more.

ii. The absence that made room — 13:6

Then the narrative stops and explains itself with a negative particle: לֹ֥א, I was not in Jerusalem. The paragraph that follows is almost entirely about a foreign court. מֶֽלֶךְ (melek) occurs three times in this one verse and refers to Artaxerxes every time. Nehemiah, governor of Judah, has to ask leave like a servant, and the verb he uses, נִשְׁאַ֥לְתִּי, is a Niphal whose sense the commentators cannot agree on: Pulpit sets Gesenius and Lee ("I asked leave of the king") against Houbigant and Rambach ("I was asked for from the king"), and K&D observes that what he asked "is not expressly stated." The length of the absence is equally unfixed. Benson, Poole, Gill and Barnes press "the end of days" toward a single year on the strength of Exodus 13:10 and Leviticus 25:29; Cambridge refuses, calling that "a very improbable explanation of the phrase," and K&D calls the year reading "devoid of proof," reasoning that so many illegal acts "could not have occurred in so short a time." ⚙ That last is an argument from consequence, and worth naming as such: we are dating the absence by the damage. JFB draws the psychological portrait, that with "none left whose authority or frown he dreaded" Eliashib did what he would never have dared under the governor's eye, and Geneva generalizes it into a doctrine about vacancy, reaching for Exodus 32:1 where Israel falls the moment Moses is up the mountain.

iii. Discernment, violence, and the sorting of vessels — 13:7 to 13:9

The return verb is וָאָבִ֣ינָה (bîyn), which Cambridge glosses "'gave attention to,' 'perceived its significance.'" The root means to separate mentally, and that is the joke the Hebrew is making: the chapter opened with Israel separating the mixed multitude (v. 3), and the returning governor exercises the same faculty of separating only to find that separation failed at the top. What he perceives is called הָרָעָה, the evil, with the article; in v. 8 the same root turns into the verb וַיֵּ֥רַֽע, impersonal, "and it was evil to me," the identical idiom that described how Sanballat and Tobiah felt in Nehemiah 2:10, as Cambridge notes. The grief in this book runs both directions in the same words. The action that follows is a Hiphil of shâlak, to hurl; Pulpit says Nehemiah "of his own authority, had the whole of it turned out of doors," while Gill grounds the legality elsewhere, in his standing "as being chief magistrate, and acting by commission under the king of Persia," with power like Ezra's in Ezra 7:25. ⚙ The hinge of the whole unit is a single noun used twice. What is thrown out is בֵית־כְּלֵ֧י, literally, as Cambridge says, "'all the vessels of the house'" of Tobiah; what is brought back in v. 9 is כְּלֵי֙ בֵּ֣ית הָאֱלֹהִ֔ים, the vessels of the house of God. One word, two houses, and the reform is simply the sorting of that word back into its rightful house. The cleansing verb is Piel וַֽיְטַהֲר֖וּ, a priestly act that the governor must command because the priest set over the chambers is the one who defiled them; Poole and Gill cite the water of separation of Numbers 19:9 and JFB cites Numbers 15:9, while the verse itself specifies no rite, and that disagreement is a real gap, not a harmonizable detail. Finally Ellicott's eye for the small omission: the tithes of v. 5 are not among the things restored, which he calls "a note of minute accuracy," because vv. 10 to 13 will reveal there were none to restore.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ This is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested against the text and against the named voices above. Read as Scripture, the passage is not first about an Ammonite and not first about a bad priest. It is about the gravitational pull of nearness. The man entrusted with the storerooms was qārôb, near, to the adversary, and a trust cannot survive an affection it was never weighed against. Nothing in vv. 4 and 5 is described as a crime while it is happening: a relative is accommodated, some partitions come down, a great room is fitted up, and the offerings are put somewhere else. The narrator withholds the word evil until v. 7, when a man who was not there comes back and looks. That is the passage's quiet claim about sin: it does not announce itself at the time, it is only ever named later by someone with distance enough to see it. And the remedy is startlingly unspiritual. Nehemiah does not preach, convene, or petition. He carries furniture out of a building. Matthew Henry drew the moral application before us and said it better than we can, that those who would drive sin out of the heart "must throw out its household stuff, and all the provision made for it," and Benson, on v. 9, completes it with the restoration: the emptied room has to be filled again with what belongs there. We would add only this, which the text supports and the commentators do not state: the same noun, kᵉlîy, names both the household goods flung into the street and the sacred vessels carried back in. Nothing was destroyed. Vessels were simply returned to their houses. Holiness in this chapter is not the manufacture of something new; it is putting each thing where it belongs, under a word that was spoken and obeyed.

Not a verse of Scripture, but a line of this tool's own fallible reading: a trust cannot survive an affection it was never weighed against.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The rare word for cell: Meshullam's chamber and Tobiah's verbal / quotation: confirmed

Verse 7 abandons the ordinary lishkâh of vv. 4, 5, 8 and 9 and uses נִשְׁכָּ֔ה (nishkâh, H5393), a noun the Verifier finds in only three verses of the Hebrew Bible. One of the three is Nehemiah 3:30. The link is lexical and confirmed by the Verifier. ⚙ Its significance is the tool's own inference and is offered as such: Cambridge and K&D both record, from Nehemiah 6:18, that Tobiah's son Jehohanan married a daughter of Meshullam ben Berechiah, K&D adds that this Meshullam "according to Nehemiah 3:30, was a priest or Levite," and Cambridge, naming Shecaniah and Meshullam at Nehemiah 3:20 and 3:30, writes that "the probability is that they were priests of high rank," and derives Tobiah's alliance with Eliashib from those families. The narrative never draws the line between the chamber at 3:30 and the cell at 13:7; only the rare noun does.

Nehemiah 3:30

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H5393 nishkâh, a cell, in only 3 verses in the canon. A genuinely rare verbal link; no quotation is claimed in either direction, and the connection to Meshullam's family is inference from Nehemiah 6:18, not from the shared word.

The covenant they had signed about these very rooms structural / thematic: confirmed

The commodities listed in v. 5 as what used to be stored in that room are the same commodities, in the same Hebrew words, as the earlier arrangements of Nehemiah 10. The commentators make the cross-reference themselves: Gill sends the reader to Nehemiah 10:37 for the list, Cambridge notes on the tithes that "The tithe here referred to is of the produce of the field, cf. Nehemiah 10:37," and cites 10:39 for the vessels, and K&D identifies the tᵉrûmâh as "the tenth of their tenth which the Levites had to contribute, Nehemiah 10:39." ⚙ The force of the parallel, offered as the tool's reading, is that this is not a general slackening of piety: an arrangement had been made by name and by commodity, and the room it concerned was handed to the very sort of man the chapter's separations were meant to exclude.

Nehemiah 10:37 · Nehemiah 10:39

basis: Verifier: with Nehemiah 10:39, shared Hebrew lexemes H3957 lishkâh (in 41 vv), H1715 dâgân (in 40 vv), H3627 kᵉlîy (in 276 vv); with Nehemiah 10:37, H3957 lishkâh (in 41 vv), H3323 yitshâr (in 23 vv), H8641 tᵉrûwmâh (in 63 vv). Common cultic vocabulary rather than rare words, so the link is one of shared institution and wording, not quotation.

Storerooms appointed, storerooms betrayed structural / thematic: confirmed

Nehemiah 12:44 records the appointment of men over the storerooms for the contributions, firstfruits and tithes, "for Judah rejoiced over the priests and Levites who ministered." Our unit is the collapse of that arrangement, in the same vocabulary: tᵉrûmâh, maʻăsêr, and the Levites. Pulpit makes the cross-reference explicitly, noting that the collective "chamber" of v. 4 covers "the many 'chambers' or 'treasuries' of Nehemiah 12:44; Nehemiah 13:9, 12, 13." ⚙ Reading the two passages together shows the shape of the book's ending: an administration is set up with rejoicing in chapter 12 and found hollow in chapter 13, and the last thing Nehemiah does in this unit is put it back.

Nehemiah 12:44

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H8641 tᵉrûwmâh (in 63 vv), H4643 maʻăsêr (in 27 vv), H3881 Lêvîyîy (in 263 vv). Shared administrative and cultic vocabulary within one book; no rare lexeme and no quotation, so the tier is structural.

Which Eliashib, and whose chamber, in Ezra 10:6 flagged: verify source

Ezra 10:6 has Ezra withdraw to the chamber of Jehohanan son of Eliashib, sharing with our unit both the name ʼElyâshîyb and the noun lishkâh. The identification is exactly what the sources dispute. Gill notes that "some take" our Eliashib "to be a common priest; so Bishop Usher," and Poole lists "divers Eliashibs in or about this time, Ezra 10:6, 24, 27, 36." Cambridge argues for identity with the high priest of 3:1 and 13:28 on the character of the incident rather than the title. ⚙ We record the verbal overlap and decline to build on it: a shared personal name across books is weak evidence of a shared person, and this thread is flagged rather than asserted.

Ezra 10:6

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H475 ʼElyâshîyb (in 15 vv) and H3957 lishkâh (in 41 vv). The lexical overlap is real, but the proposed identification of the persons is explicitly contested in the sources (Gill cites Usher for a common priest; Poole lists several Eliashibs at Ezra 10:6, 24, 27, 36), so the link is flagged rather than claimed.

Tobiah from first mention to last structural / thematic: confirmed

The name טוֹבִיָּ֛ה (Ṭôwbîyâh, H2900) occurs in only seventeen verses in the canon, and the great majority are in this book: 2:10, where, as Cambridge observes on v. 8, the same idiom of being grieved exceedingly is used; 4:3 and 4:7; 6:12, 6:19, and 6:17, where Cambridge finds the record that Tobiah had married a daughter of Shecaniah and his son a daughter of Meshullam. K&D and Gill both send the reader back to 2:10 for who this man is, K&D calling him Tobiah the Ammonite and Gill "the servant and Ammonite, an inveterate enemy of the Jews." ⚙ Set end to end, the book's plot about Tobiah is a steady migration from outside the wall to inside the temple, and 13:8 reverses it in a single Hiphil verb. The name itself means that Yah is good.

Nehemiah 2:10 · Nehemiah 6:17 · Nehemiah 4:3

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H2900 Ṭôwbîyâh (in 17 vv), a proper name. A recurring character within one book rather than a quotation, so the tier is structural; note that the same name at Zechariah 6:10, 6:14 and Ezra 2:60 belongs to different persons and is not claimed here.

A house of prayer turned to other uses typological

⚙ This tool's reading, not a claim of citation. Nehemiah's sequence in vv. 7 to 9 is perceive the evil, cast out what does not belong, cleanse, restore the holy things. The Gospels record the same sequence performed by Jesus in the temple courts, and John 2:16 gives the objection in terms of buildings and ownership: stop making my Father's house a house of merchandise. The analogy is structural and not verbal, and it cannot be otherwise: a Greek text and a Hebrew text share no Strong's numbers, so no shared lexeme can be adduced. None of the eleven commentators in this unit's brief draws this connection, and we mark it as our own.

John 2:14-17 · Matthew 21:12-13

basis: Cross-Testament, Greek to Hebrew, so no shared Strong's lexeme is possible and no verbal tier is available. The link is a shared pattern of action in the temple courts: perceive, expel, cleanse, restore. Offered as the tool's own figural reading, not attested by any voice in this brief.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The heart as the emptied and refurnished chamber ancient/widely-held

Matthew Henry reads the unit as a picture of mortification: those who would drive sin out of their hearts, "the living temples, must throw out its household stuff, and all the provision made for it," and then, "when sin is cast out of the heart by repentance, let the blood of Christ be applied to it by faith," and let it be furnished with the graces of the Spirit. Benson, on v. 9, says the same thing at the point where Nehemiah brings the vessels back. ⚙ The exegetical warrant is stronger than a moral analogy usually enjoys, because the Hebrew supplies the hinge: kᵉlîy names both what is thrown out (v. 8) and what is carried in (v. 9). Emptying is not the end of the sequence in the text and is not the end in the Christian life either. Paul's temple language in 1 Corinthians 3:16 and 2 Corinthians 6:16 supplies the apostolic form of the same figure, and 2 Corinthians 6 does so while quoting the separation commands that stand behind Nehemiah 13:1 to 3.

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 · 2 Corinthians 6:16-18

A priest set over the chambers, and a priest who needed no reform novel

⚙ The unit's scandal is specifically priestly. Ellicott isolates it: Nehemiah's grief was doubled "because it was a priestly desecration," and JFB says that Eliashib, who "ought, by his office, to have preserved the inviolable sanctity of the temple and its furniture," instead lent his influence to evil. Hebrews 7:26 to 28 makes exactly this weakness the argument for a better priesthood: the law appoints men who have weakness, and the oath appoints a Son, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners. The word for that separation is the burden of Nehemiah 13:3 and the thing Eliashib failed to do. The apostolic argument is the epistle's own; applying it to Eliashib by name is our reading, and no commentator in this brief makes it.

Hebrews 7:26-28

Zeal for the house, and the one who came back novel

⚙ Offered as a figure and not as prophecy. The unit turns on an absence and a return: the governor was away, the house was misused, he came back and set it right. John 2:17 records the disciples remembering Psalm 69:9 of Jesus in the temple, zeal for your house will consume me, which names the same emotion that v. 8 puts impersonally, that it was evil to Nehemiah exceedingly. ⚙ The difference matters more than the likeness, and we state it rather than blur it: Nehemiah cleansed a building and restored its stores, while the Gospels present Jesus speaking of the temple of his body. The typology is ours, it is figural, and the mismatch is part of the reading.

John 2:17 · Psalm 69:9

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text: the Hebrew of vv. 4 to 9 is not in doubt, but the interlinear supplied in the brief lists several words in BSB's English order rather than Hebrew order (notably v. 8, where the adverb mᵉʼōd is indexed before the verb, and v. 9, where the object marker follows its noun phrase). Our literal renderings are built from the Hebrew order; the note indices follow the brief's numbering exactly.

One real textual proposal is recorded: at v. 4 Ewald and Bertheau, reported by K&D, would read the plural lishkôth for the singular lishkath, and Cambridge judges that proposal "probably right" on the ground that "the singular does not give the right meaning." K&D declines the emendation and takes the singular collectively. We have kept the singular and flagged the issue rather than choosing.

Uncertain and left uncertain: (1) whether Eliashib here is the high priest of 3:1 and 13:28, which most of the voices affirm and Gill, citing Usher, and Poole allow to be doubted; (2) the identity of Artaxerxes, whom Geneva and Gill call Darius while Cambridge and Barnes date his thirty-second year to 433 B.C.; (3) the length of "the end of days," a year for Benson, Poole, Gill and Barnes, indefinite for Cambridge and K&D; (4) the exact rite of purification in v. 9, Numbers 19:9 for Poole and Gill, Numbers 15:9 for JFB, unspecified in the verse; (5) the precise kinship between Eliashib and Tobiah, which K&D says plainly is "nowhere stated."

Sources: eleven public domain commentators are quoted verbatim by anchor and resolved by code. The Ellicott excerpt at v. 5 contains "email" where the printed text read "small," a scanning corruption in the public domain transcription; it is reproduced unaltered and flagged in its editorial note rather than silently repaired. Matthew Henry's entry is a single block covering 13:1 to 9 and is therefore quoted once, at v. 8, not per verse. Thread bases are the Verifier's computed shared lexemes with canon frequencies; the Ezra 10:6 link is flagged because the persons behind the shared name are disputed in the sources, and all cross-Testament material in the christ section is marked typological or novel, never verbal, since Greek and Hebrew share no Strong's numbers.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)