13:6 During all this time I was not in Jerusalem, 2 for in the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes of Babylon, I had gone back to the king. After some time 3 I had requested leave of the king, 13:7 and I returned to Jerusalem. Then I discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah by supplying him with a storeroom in the courts of the temple of God. 13:8 I was very upset, and I threw all of Tobiah’s household possessions out of the storeroom. 13:9 Then I gave instructions that the storerooms should be purified, and I brought back the equipment 4 of the temple of God, along with the grain offering and the incense.
13:10 I also discovered that the grain offerings for the Levites had not been provided, and that as a result the Levites and the singers who performed this work had all gone off to their fields. 13:11 So I registered a complaint with the leaders, asking “Why is the temple of God neglected?” Then I gathered them and reassigned them to their positions. 5
13:12 Then all of Judah brought the tithe of the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil to the storerooms. 13:13 I gave instructions 6 that Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and a certain Levite named Pedaiah be put in charge of 7 the storerooms, and that Hanan son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah, be their assistant, 8 for they were regarded as trustworthy. It was then their responsibility to oversee the distribution to their colleagues. 9
1 tn Heb “giving.”
2 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
3 tn Heb “to the end of days.”
4 tn On the usage of this Hebrew word see HALOT 478-79 s.v. כְּלִי.
5 tn Heb “and I stood them on their standing.”
6 tc Probably one should read with the Lucianic Greek recension, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Vulgate וָאֲצַוֶּה (va’atsavveh, “and I commanded”) rather than the rare denominative verb וָאוֹצְרָה (va’otsÿrah, “and I appointed over the storeroom”) of the MT.
7 tn Heb “be over”
8 tn Heb “on their hand.”
9 tn Heb “brothers.”