⁵ had provided for Tobiah a large room in which previously had been stored the grain offerings, the incense, the temple vessels, the tithes of grain, wine, and oil prescribed for the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests.

⁶ All this took place when I was away from Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes of Babylon, I had gone to consult the king. Sometime later, however, I asked the king for permission to leave, ⁷ and after I returned to Jerusalem, I learned about the evil thing that Eliashib had done on behalf of Tobiah in providing him with a room in the courts of the house of God.