2. because they had not met the children of Yisra’ĕl with bread and water, and hired Bil‛am against them to curse them, although our Elohim turned the curse into a blessing.
3. And it came to be, when they had heard the Torah, that they separated all the mixed multitude from Yisra’ĕl.
4. And before this, Elyashiḇ the priest, having authority over the storerooms of the House of our Elohim, was a relative of Toḇiyah,
5. and he had prepared for him a large room, where previously they had stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, and the utensils, and the tithes of grain, the new wine and the oil, which were commanded to be given to the Lĕwites and the singers and the gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests.
6. But in all this I was not in Yerushalayim, for in the thirty-second year of Artaḥshashta sovereign of Baḇel I came to the sovereign. And after some days I asked leave from the sovereign to return,
7. and I came to Yerushalayim and learned of the evil which Elyashiḇ had done for Toḇiyah, in preparing a room for him in the courts of the House of Elohim.
8. And it was very displeasing to me. Therefore I threw all the household goods of Toḇiyah out of the room,
9. and I commanded them to cleanse the rooms. And I put back into them the utensils of the House of Elohim, with the grain offering and the frankincense.
10. And I learned that the portions for the Lĕwites had not been given them, for each of the Lĕwites and the singers who did the work had gone back to his field.
11. Then I contended with the deputy rulers, and said, “Why is the House of Elohim forsaken?” And I gathered them together and set them in their place.
12. And all Yehuḏah brought the tithe of the grain and the new wine and the oil to the storehouse.