The Temple Cleansed

Before Nehemiah's return, Eliashib the priest, related to Tobiah, places him in a large room where offerings, frankincense, temple articles, and tithes had been stored. Nehemiah explains that this happened while he was away serving Artaxerxes and only later obtained leave to return.

N⁴ow before this, Eliashib the priest, a relative of Tobiah, had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God ⁵and had prepared for Tobiah a large room where they had previously stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, the temple articles, and the tithes of grain, new wine, and oil prescribed for the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, along with the contributions for the priests. ⁶While all this was happening, I was not in Jerusalem, because I had returned to Artaxerxes king of Babylon in the thirty-second year of his reign. Some time later I obtained leave from the king

When Nehemiah returns and sees what Eliashib has done for Tobiah, he is deeply angered and throws all of Tobiah's household goods out of the room. He then has the rooms purified and restores the temple articles, grain offerings, and frankincense to their place.

⁷to return to Jerusalem. Then I discovered the evil that Eliashib had done on behalf of Tobiah by providing him a room in the courts of the house of God. ⁸And I was greatly displeased and threw all of Tobiah’s household goods out of the room. ⁹Then I ordered that the rooms be purified, and I had the articles of the house of God restored to them, along with the grain offerings and frankincense.