3 After the people heard this Teaching, they separated the non-Israelites from the Israelites.
4 Even before this, the priest Eliashib, who was related to Tobiah and had been put in charge of the storerooms of our God’s temple,
5 had provided a large room for Tobiah. Previously, this room had been used to store grain offerings, incense, utensils, a tenth of all the grain harvested, new wine, and olive oil. These things belonged by law to the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers. The contributions for the priests had also been stored there.
6 While all of this was taking place, I wasn’t in Jerusalem. In the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes’ reign in Babylon, I returned to the king. Later, I asked the king for permission to return.
7 I went to Jerusalem and discovered the evil thing Eliashib had done by providing Tobiah with a room in God’s temple.
8 I was furious. So I threw all of Tobiah’s household goods out of the room.
9 Then I told them to cleanse the rooms, and I put back in there the utensils from God’s temple, the offerings, and the incense.