---
title: "Nehemiah 13 – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin Vulgate · Bless"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/nehemiah/13/
description: "Divers abuses are reformed. Nehemiah 13 in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin Vulgate."
---

# Nehemiah 13

Nehemiah 13 is chapter 13 of 13 in the Book of Nehemiah. Here are all 31 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

> Divers abuses are reformed.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## Nehemiah 13 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. Now on that day, they read from the book of Moses in the hearing of the people. And in it, there was found written that the Ammonites and the Moabites must not enter the church of God, even for all time,
2. because they did not meet the sons of Israel with bread and water, and they hired Balaam against them, to curse them. But our God turned the curse into a blessing.
3. Now it happened that, when they had heard the law, they separated every foreigner from Israel.
4. And Eliashib, the priest, was over this task; he had been given charge of the treasury of the house of our God, and he was a close relative of Tobiah.
5. Then he made for himself a large storeroom, and in that place, there was laid before him gifts, and frankincense, and vessels, and the tithes of grain, wine, and oil, the portions of the Levites, and of the singing men, and of the gatekeepers, and the first-fruits of the priests.
6. But during all this, I was not in Jerusalem, because in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes, the king of Babylon, I went to the king, and at the end of some days, I petitioned the king.
7. And I went to Jerusalem, and I understood the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, such that he would make him a storeroom in the vestibules of the house of God.
8. And it seemed to me very evil. And I cast the vessels of the house of Tobiah outside of the storeroom.
9. And I gave instructions, and they cleansed again the storeroom. And I brought back, into that place, the vessels of the house of God, the sacrifice, and the frankincense.
10. And I realized that the portions of the Levites had not been given to them, and that each one had fled into his own region, from the Levites, and from the singing men, and from those who were ministering.
11. And I brought the case before the magistrates, and I said, “Why have we forsaken the house of God?” And I gathered them together, and I caused them to stand at their stations.
12. And all of Judah brought the tithes of the grain, and the wine, and the oil into the storehouses.
13. And we appointed over the storehouses, Shelemiah, the priest, and Zadok, the scribe, and Pedaiah from the Levites, and next to them Hanan, the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah. For they had proven to be faithful. And so the portions of their brothers were entrusted to them.
14. Remember me, O my God, because of this, and may you not wipe away my acts of compassion, which I have done for the house of my God and for his ceremonies.
15. In those days, I saw, in Judah, some who were treading the presses on the Sabbath, and who were carrying sheaves, and placing on donkeys burdens of wine, and of grapes, and of figs, and all manner of burdens, and who were bringing these into Jerusalem on the day of the Sabbath. And I contended with them, so that they would sell on a day when it was permitted to sell.
16. And some Tyrians dwelt within, who were bringing fish and all kinds of items for sale. And they were selling on the Sabbaths to the sons of Judah in Jerusalem.
17. And I put the nobles of Judah under oath, and I said to them: “What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day?
18. Did not our fathers do these things, and so our God brought all this evil upon us and upon this city? And you are adding more wrath upon Israel by violating the Sabbath!”
19. And it happened that, when the gates of Jerusalem had rested on the day of the Sabbath, I spoke, and they closed the gates. And I instructed that they should not open them until after the Sabbath. And I appointed some of my servants over the gates, so that no one would carry in a burden on the day of the Sabbath.
20. And so the merchants and those who sold all kinds of items remained just outside of Jerusalem, once and again.
21. And I contended with them, and I said to them: “Why are you remaining just beyond the wall? If you do this again, I will send hands upon you.” And so, from that time, they no longer came on the Sabbath.
22. I also spoke to the Levites, so that they would be cleansed, and would arrive to guard the gates and to sanctify the day of the Sabbath. Because of this also, O my God, remember me and spare me, in accord with the multitude of your mercies.
23. But also in those days, I saw some Jews taking wives from the Ashdodites, and the Ammonites, and the Moabites.
24. And their sons spoke partly in the speech of Ashdod, and they did not know how to speak the Jewish language, and they were speaking according to the language of one people or another.
25. And I put them under oath, and I cursed them. And I struck some of their men, and I shaved off their hair, and I made them swear to God that they would not give their daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for their sons, nor for themselves, saying:
26. “Did not Solomon, king of Israel, sin in this kind of thing? And certainly, among many nations, there was no king similar to him, and he was beloved of his God, and God set him as king over all of Israel. And yet foreign women led even him into sin!
27. So how could we disobey and do all this great evil, so that we would transgress against our God, and take foreign wives?”
28. Now one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib, the high priest, was a son-in-law to Sanballat, a Horonite, and I made him flee from me.
29. O Lord, my God, remember against those who defile the priesthood and the law of the priests and the Levites!
30. And so I cleansed them from all foreigners, and I established the orders of the priests and the Levites, each one in his ministry.
31. O my God, remember me also, for good, because of the offering of wood, at the appointed times, and because of the first-fruits. Amen.

## Nehemiah 13 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. In die autem illo, lectum est in volumine Moysi, audiente populo: et inventum est scriptum in eo, quod non debeant introire Ammonites et Moabites in ecclesiam Dei usque in æternum:
2. eo quod non occurrerint filiis Israël cum pane et aqua, et conduxerint adversum eos Balaam ad maledicendum eis: et convertit Deus noster maledictionem in benedictionem.
3. Factum est autem, cum audissent legem, separaverunt omnem alienigenam ab Israël.
4. Et super hoc erat Eliasib sacerdos, qui fuerat præpositus in gazophylacio domus Dei nostri, et proximus Tobiæ.
5. Fecit ergo sibi gazophylacium grande, et ibi erant ante eum reponentes munera, et thus, et vasa, et decimam frumenti, vini, et olei, partes Levitarum, et cantorum, et janitorum, et primitias sacerdotales.
6. In omnibus autem his non fui in Jerusalem, quia anno trigesimo secundo Artaxerxis regis Babylonis veni ad regem, et in fine dierum rogavi regem.
7. Et veni in Jerusalem, et intellexi malum quod fecerat Eliasib Tobiæ, ut faceret ei thesaurum in vestibulis domus Dei.
8. Et malum mihi visum est valde. Et projeci vasa domus Tobiæ foras de gazophylacio:
9. præcepique et emundaverunt gazophylacia: et retuli ibi vasa domus Dei, sacrificium, et thus.
10. Et cognovi quod partes Levitarum non fuissent datæ, et fugisset unusquisque in regionem suam de Levitis, et cantoribus, et de his qui ministrabant:
11. et egi causam adversus magistratus, et dixi: Quare dereliquimus domum Dei? et congregavi eos, et feci stare in stationibus suis.
12. Et omnis Juda apportabat decimam frumenti, vini, et olei, in horrea.
13. Et constituimus super horrea Selemiam sacerdotem, et Sadoc scribam, et Phadaiam de Levitis, et juxta eos Hanan filium Zachur, filium Mathaniæ: quoniam fideles comprobati sunt, et ipsis creditæ sunt partes fratrum suorum.
14. Memento mei, Deus meus, pro hoc, et ne deleas miserationes meas quas feci in domo Dei mei, et in cæremoniis ejus.
15. In diebus illis vidi in Juda calcantes torcularia in sabbato, portantes acervos, et onerantes super asinos vinum, et uvas, et ficus, et omne onus, et inferentes in Jerusalem, die sabbati. Et contestatus sum ut in die qua vendere liceret, venderent.
16. Et Tyrii habitaverunt in ea, inferentes pisces, et omnia venalia: et vendebant in sabbatis filiis Juda in Jerusalem.
17. Et objurgavi optimates Juda, et dixi eis: Quæ est hæc res mala quam vos facitis, et profanatis diem sabbati?
18. numquid non hæc fecerunt patres nostri, et adduxit Deus noster super nos omne malum hoc, et super civitatem hanc? et vos additis iracundiam super Israël violando sabbatum.
19. Factum est autem, cum quievissent portæ Jerusalem in die sabbati, dixi: et clauserunt januas, et præcepi ut non aperirent eas usque post sabbatum: et de pueris meis constitui super portas, ut nullus inferret onus in die sabbati.
20. Et manserunt negotiatores, et vendentes universa venalia, foris Jerusalem semel et bis.
21. Et contestatus sum eos, et dixi eis: Quare manetis ex adverso muri? si secundo hoc feceritis, manum mittam in vos. Itaque ex tempore illo non venerunt in sabbato.
22. Dixi quoque Levitis ut mundarentur, et venirent ad custodiendas portas, et sanctificandam diem sabbati: et pro hoc ergo memento mei, Deus meus, et parce mihi secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum.
23. Sed et in diebus illis vidi Judæos ducentes uxores Azotidas, Ammonitidas, et Moabitidas.
24. Et filii eorum ex media parte loquebantur azotice, et nesciebant loqui judaice, et loquebantur juxta linguam populi et populi.
25. Et objurgavi eos, et maledixi. Et cecidi ex eis viros, et decalvavi eos, et adjuravi in Deo ut non darent filias suas filiis eorum, et non acciperent de filiabus eorum filiis suis et sibimetipsis, dicens:
26. Numquid non in hujuscemodi re peccavit Salomon rex Israël? et certe in gentibus multis non erat rex similis ei, et dilectus Deo suo erat, et posuit eum Deus regem super omnem Israël: et ipsum ergo duxerunt ad peccatum mulieres alienigenæ.
27. Numquid et nos inobedientes faciemus omne malum grande hoc ut prævaricemur in Deo nostro, et ducamus uxores peregrinas?
28. De filiis autem Jojada filii Eliasib sacerdotis magni, gener erat Sanaballat Horonites, quem fugavi a me.
29. Recordare, Domine Deus meus, adversum eos qui polluunt sacerdotium, jusque sacerdotale et Leviticum.
30. Igitur mundavi eos ab omnibus alienigenis, et constitui ordines sacerdotum et Levitarum, unumquemque in ministerio suo:
31. et in oblatione lignorum in temporibus constitutis, et in primitivis: memento mei, Deus meus, in bonum. Amen.

## Catechism of the Catholic Church

Paragraph numbers and the Catechism's own section headings (never quoted); text at vatican.va.
- cf. CCC ¶ 2172: The Sabbath Day ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))

## Bishop Challoner's notes

Bp. Richard Challoner, notes on the Douay-Rheims (1750); they comment on its older wording.
- Verse 4: Or, he was faulty in this thing, or in this kind.

Source: Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain; Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592).