
430 BC to 410 BC, Psalm 26: The Law of Israel.
This generation is that of the years between 430 BC and 410 BC.
- On [1] that day the Book of Moses was read in the ears of the people, and it was found written therein that an Ammonite and a Moabite may not enter the congregation of God forever.
- For they did not come forward to meet the Children of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them; but our God turned the curse into a blessing.
- Now it came to pass when they heard the Torah, that they separated all mixtures from Israel.
- Now prior to this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed to the chamber of the Temple of our God, was a kinsman of Tobiah.
- And he had made him a large chamber, and in previous times they would put there the meal offering, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithe of the corn, the wine, and the oil, which were ordained for the Levites and the singers and the gate sentries, and the heave offering of the priests.
- Now with all this, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king of Babylon, I came to the king, and after some days, I requested of the king.
- And I came to Jerusalem, and I pondered the evil that Eliashib had done in the matter of Tobiah, by making him a chamber in the courts of the Temple of God.
- And I was very distressed, and I cast all the vessels of Tobiah’s house out of the chamber.
- And I commanded, and they purified the chambers, and I returned there the vessels of the Temple of God, the meal offerings, and the frankincense.
- And I knew that the portions due the Levites had not been given, and the Levites and the singers who did the work fled each one to his field.
- So I quarreled with the prefects, and I said, « Why has the Temple of God been forsaken? » And I gathered them and stationed them in their place.
- And all of Judah brought the tithes of the corn, and the wine, and the oil to the treasuries.
- And I appointed treasurers over the treasuries: Shelemiah the priest, and Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, and next to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah, for they were deemed trustworthy, and it was incumbent upon them to distribute to their brethren.
- Remember me, my God, concerning this, and do not erase my good deeds that I did in the Temple of my God and with its watches.
[1] Nechemiah – Nehemiah – Chapter 13, verses 1 to 14