Bible Strands
Nehemiah 13:11
So I rebuked the officials and asked, “Why has the house of God been neglected?” Then I gathered the Levites and singers together and stationed them at their posts,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Nehemiah confronts the officials of Jerusalem after learning that the Levites and singers have left their temple duties because their required portions were not delivered. He responds by gathering the displaced workers and assigning them to their designated posts.
The words — The Hebrew verb אָרִיבָה (’arîḇâ) translates literally as “I contended” or “I rebuked,” and נֶעֱזַב (neʿēzav) means “has it been neglected.” These verbs mark the situation as a formal charge against abandoned sacred responsibilities.
The thread — This rebuke aligns with Nehemiah 13:17 and Nehemiah 13:25, where he similarly confronts leaders for violating covenant obligations. The restoration of temple support directly implements the tithe collection mandated in Nehemiah 10:39.
Why it lands — The text records a direct administrative correction of institutional neglect that starves worship and its workers. It requires readers to identify broken support systems that halt obedience and to restore proper order immediately.
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
Then contended I with the rulers, and said, Why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered them together, and set them in their place.
Cross-references
- Nehemiah 10:39 For the Israelites and the Levites are to bring the contributions of grain, new wine, and oil to the storerooms where the articles of the sanctuary are kept and where the ministering priests, the gatekeepers, and the singers stay. Thus we will not neglect the house of our God.”
- Nehemiah 13:17 Then I rebuked the nobles of Judah and asked, “What is this evil you are doing—profaning the Sabbath day?
- Nehemiah 13:25 I rebuked them and called down curses on them. I beat some of these men and pulled out their hair. Then I made them take an oath before God and said, “You must not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters as wives for your sons or for yourselves!
- 1 Samuel 2:17 Thus the sin of these young men was severe in the sight of the LORD, for they were treating the LORD’s offering with contempt.
- Nehemiah 5:6 When I heard their outcry and these complaints, I became extremely angry,
- Job 31:34 because I greatly feared the crowds and the contempt of the clans terrified me, so that I kept silent and would not go outside—
- Proverbs 28:4 Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law resist them.
- Malachi 3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you ask, ‘How do we rob You?’ In tithes and offerings.