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Chapter 13[a]

Separation from Aliens. On that day they were reading aloud to the people from the Book of Moses, and there it was found written: “No Ammonite or Moabite should ever be allowed to enter the assembly of God, since they had not come to welcome the Israelites with food and water, but they rather hired Balaam to curse them, even though our God turned the curse into a blessing.” When the people heard the law, they excluded from Israel all those of foreign descent.

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Footnotes

  1. Nehemiah 13:1 After Nehemiah had returned to his post at the court of Persia, many abuses crept into the Jewish community. He returns for the express purpose of repressing these abuses.

Nehemiah’s Final Reforms

13 On that day the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people and there it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be admitted into the assembly of God,(A) because they had not met the Israelites with food and water but had hired Balaam(B) to call a curse down on them.(C) (Our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing.)(D) When the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all who were of foreign descent.(E)

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