20. Then the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice.
21. But I warned them and said to them, “Why do you lodge outside the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you.” From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath.
22. Then I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come and guard the gates, to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember this also in my favor, O my God, and spare me according to the greatness of your steadfast love.
23. In those days also I saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.
24. And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of Judah, but only the language of each people.