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The last chapter is something of an anticlimax. It shows that many of the people and especially the leaders are not wholeheartedly devoted to God but turn away as soon as Nehemiah turns his back.

At the start of the chapter the people separate the people of foreign descent from them.

But then when Nehemiah is back at the court of the king one of the leaders takes rooms in the temple that are for offerings and vessels for holy things and makes an apartment for Tobiah, Nehemiah's enemy. He does this because Tobiah is a relative. When Nehemiah returns he throws all Tobiah's things out and gets the priests to cleanse the room.

He finds that the priests and Levites have not been provided for so they fled so they wouldn't go hungry. Nehemiah sets a reliable man in charge of making sure the priests are provided for so the sacrifices and worship are carried out.

Nehemiah also finds widespread trading on the sabbath. He orders the gates shut on the sabbath to put a stop to it. Traders camp outside the gates in the sabbath but they stop after Nehemiah threatens to lay hands on them if they continue.

He also finds many Jews have married foreign women and that many of their children don't speak Hebrew. He beats them and pulls out their hair and berates them for falling into the same folly as Solomon.

Nehemiah asks God to remember him for all this.