Bible Strands
Nehemiah 13:1
At that time the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people, and in it they found the passage stating that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator describes a public reading event during Nehemiah’s post-exilic reforms, addressing the assembled Israelite community gathered for covenant renewal.
The words — נִקְרָא (nik.Ra') translates literally as "it was read aloud," and בְּ/סֵ֥פֶר (be./Se.fer) means "in [the] scroll," emphasizing the physical and auditory transmission of the text.
The thread — This public reading mirrors the law proclamation in Deuteronomy 31:11, the covenant review in Nehemiah 9:3, and directly surfaces the exclusion mandate recorded in Deuteronomy 23:3.
Why it lands — The text requires communal identity to be established through direct engagement with written instruction, demanding concrete separation from groups explicitly barred by the law.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and therein was found written, that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever;
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 23:3 No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even to the tenth generation.
- Nehemiah 9:3 While they stood in their places, they read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day, and they spent another quarter of the day in confession and worship of the LORD their God.
- Deuteronomy 31:11 when all Israel comes before the LORD your God at the place He will choose, you are to read this law in the hearing of all Israel.
- Nehemiah 13:23 In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.
- 2 Kings 23:2 And he went up to the house of the LORD with all the people of Judah and Jerusalem, as well as the priests and the prophets—all the people small and great—and in their hearing he read all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the LORD.
- Ezekiel 25:1 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
- Nehemiah 2:10 But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were deeply disturbed that someone had come to seek the well-being of the Israelites.
- Nehemiah 2:19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard about this, they mocked us and ridiculed us, saying, “What is this you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”
- Nehemiah 4:3 Then Tobiah the Ammonite, who was beside him, said, “If even a fox were to climb up on what they are building, it would break down their wall of stones!”
- Nehemiah 8:3 So Ezra read it aloud from daybreak until noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate, in front of the men and women and those who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.