21. I warned them. “Why are you spending the night in front of the wall?” I asked them. “If you do it again, I’ll arrest you.” After that, they no longer came on the day of worship.
22. Then I told the Levites to cleanse themselves and guard the gates to keep the day of worship holy.⌊Nehemiah prayed,⌋ “Remember me also for this, my God, and spare me, since you are very kind.”
23. In those days I saw some Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.
24. Half their children spoke the language of Ashdod or one of the other languages, but they couldn’t understand the language of Judah well enough to speak it.