¹⁰ Now ^(A)it is in my heart ^(B)to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, in order that his fierce anger may turn away from us.

^5 (A)They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, ^(B)saying, ‘Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in an ^(C)everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.’

Jehoiada's Reforms

¹⁶ And Jehoiada made a covenant between himself and all the people and the king that they should be the Lord's people.

³ Therefore ^(A)let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and ^(B)their children, according to the counsel of my lord^[a] and of ^(C)those who tremble at the commandment of our God, and let it be done ^(D)according to the Law.

⁵ and this, not as we expected, but they ^(A)gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.

¹⁸ And the men who transgressed my covenant and did not keep the terms of ^(A)the covenant that they made before me, I will make them like^{[a] (B)}the calf that they cut in two and passed between its parts—

¹⁵ You recently repented and did what was right in my eyes ^(A)by proclaiming liberty, each to his neighbor, and ^(B)you made a covenant before me in the ^(C)house that is called by my name,

^38 [a] “Because of all this ^(A)we make a firm covenant in writing; on ^(B)the sealed document are the names of^[b] our princes, our Levites, and our priests.

The People Who Sealed the Covenant

10 ^{[c] (C)}“On the seals are the names of^[d] Nehemiah ^(D)the governor, ^(E)the son of Hacaliah, Zedekiah, ^2 (F)Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, ³ Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah, ^4 (G)Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch, ⁵ Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, ⁶ Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch, ⁷ Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, ⁸ Maaziah, Bilgai, Shemaiah; these are the priests. ⁹ And the Levites: ^(H)Jeshua the son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of ^(I)Henadad, Kadmiel; ¹⁰ and their brothers, Shebaniah, Hodiah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan, ¹¹ Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah, ¹² Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, ¹³ Hodiah, Bani, Beninu. ¹⁴ The chiefs of the people: ^(J)Parosh, Pahath-moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani, ¹⁵ Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, ¹⁶ Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin, ¹⁷ Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur, ¹⁸ Hodiah, Hashum, Bezai, ¹⁹ Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai, ²⁰ Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir, ²¹ Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua, ²² Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah, ²³ Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub, ²⁴ Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek, ²⁵ Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah, ²⁶ Ahiah, Hanan, Anan, ²⁷ Malluch, Harim, Baanah.

The Obligations of the Covenant

^28 (K)“The rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, ^(L)and all who have separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, their daughters, all who have knowledge and understanding, ²⁹ join with their brothers, their nobles, ^(M)and enter into a curse and an oath ^(N)to walk in God's Law that was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord and his rules and his statutes. ^30 (O)We will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons. ^31 (P)And if the peoples of the land bring in goods or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on a holy day. And we will forego the crops of the ^(Q)seventh year and the ^(R)exaction of every debt.

³² “We also take on ourselves the obligation to give yearly ^(S)a third part of a shekel^[e] for the service of the house of our God: ^33 (T)for the showbread, ^(U)the regular grain offering, ^(V)the regular burnt offering, the Sabbaths, the new moons, the appointed feasts, the holy things, and the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God. ^34 (W)We, the priests, the Levites, and the people, have likewise cast lots ^(X)for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God, according to our fathers' houses, at times appointed, year by year, to burn on the altar of the Lord our God, ^(Y)as it is written in the Law. ³⁵ We obligate ourselves ^(Z)to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of every tree, year by year, to the house of the Lord; ³⁶ also to bring to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God, the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, ^(AA)as it is written in the Law, and the firstborn of our herds and of our flocks; ^37 (AB)and to bring the first of our dough, and our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the wine and the oil, to the priests, ^(AC)to the chambers of the house of our God; and to bring to the Levites the tithes from our ground, for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in all our towns where we labor. ³⁸ And the priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive the tithes. And the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers of ^(AD)the storehouse. ³⁹ For the people of Israel and the sons of Levi ^(AE)shall bring the contribution of grain, wine, and oil to the chambers, where the vessels of the sanctuary are, as well as the priests who minister, and the gatekeepers and the singers. ^(AF)We will not neglect the house of our God.”

³⁰ And the king went up to the house of the Lord, with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the Levites, all the people both great and small. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord. ³¹ And the king ^(A)stood in his place ^(B)and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book. ³² Then he made all who were present in Jerusalem and in Benjamin join in it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.