Nehemiah 9:22-10:39
New King James Version
22 “Moreover You gave them kingdoms and nations,
And divided them into [a]districts.
So they took possession of the land of (A)Sihon,
[b]The land of the king of Heshbon,
And the land of Og king of Bashan.
23 You also multiplied (B)their children as the stars of heaven,
And brought them into the land
Which You had told their fathers
To go in and possess.
24 So (C)the [c]people went in
And possessed the land;
(D)You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land,
The Canaanites,
And gave them into their hands,
With their kings
And the people of the land,
That they might do with them as they wished.
25 And they took strong cities and a (E)rich land,
And possessed (F)houses full of all goods,
Cisterns already dug, vineyards, olive groves,
And [d]fruit trees in abundance.
So they ate and were filled and (G)grew fat,
And delighted themselves in Your great (H)goodness.
26 “Nevertheless they (I)were disobedient
And rebelled against You,
(J)Cast Your law behind their backs
And killed Your (K)prophets, who [e]testified against them
To turn them to Yourself;
And they worked great provocations.
27 (L)Therefore You delivered them into the hand of their enemies,
Who oppressed them;
And in the time of their trouble,
When they cried to You,
You (M)heard from heaven;
And according to Your abundant mercies
(N)You gave them deliverers who saved them
From the hand of their enemies.
28 “But after they had rest,
(O)They again did evil before You.
Therefore You left them in the hand of their enemies,
So that they had dominion over them;
Yet when they returned and cried out to You,
You heard from heaven;
And (P)many times You delivered them according to Your mercies,
29 And [f]testified against them,
That You might bring them back to Your law.
Yet they acted [g]proudly,
And did not heed Your commandments,
But sinned against Your judgments,
(Q)‘Which if a man does, he shall live by them.’
And they shrugged their shoulders,
[h]Stiffened their necks,
And would not hear.
30 Yet for many years You had patience with them,
And [i]testified (R)against them by Your Spirit (S)in Your prophets.
Yet they would not listen;
(T)Therefore You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.
31 Nevertheless in Your great mercy
(U)You did not utterly consume them nor forsake them;
For You are God, gracious and merciful.
32 “Now therefore, our God,
The great, the (V)mighty, and awesome God,
Who keeps covenant and mercy:
Do not let all the [j]trouble seem small before You
That has come upon us,
Our kings and our princes,
Our priests and our prophets,
Our fathers and on all Your people,
(W)From the days of the kings of Assyria until this day.
33 However (X)You are just in all that has befallen us;
For You have dealt faithfully,
But (Y)we have done wickedly.
34 Neither our kings nor our princes,
Our priests nor our fathers,
Have kept Your law,
Nor heeded Your commandments and Your testimonies,
With which You testified against them.
35 For they have (Z)not served You in their kingdom,
Or in the many good things that You gave them,
Or in the large and rich land which You set before them;
Nor did they turn from their wicked works.
36 “Here (AA)we are, servants today!
And the land that You gave to our fathers,
To eat its fruit and its bounty,
Here we are, servants in it!
37 And (AB)it yields much increase to the kings
You have set over us,
Because of our sins;
Also they have (AC)dominion over our bodies and our cattle
At their pleasure;
And we are in great distress.
38 “And because of all this,
We (AD)make a sure covenant and write it;
Our leaders, our Levites, and our priests (AE)seal it.”
The People Who Sealed the Covenant
10 Now those who placed their seal on the document were:
Nehemiah the [k]governor, (AF)the son of Hacaliah, and Zedekiah, 2 (AG)Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, 3 Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah, 4 Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch, 5 Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, 6 Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch, 7 Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, 8 Maaziah, Bilgai, and Shemaiah. These were the priests.
9 The Levites: Jeshua the son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, and Kadmiel.
10 Their brethren: Shebaniah, Hodijah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan, 11 Micha, Rehob, Hashabiah, 12 Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, 13 Hodijah, Bani, and Beninu.
14 The leaders of the people: (AH)Parosh, Pahath-Moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani, 15 Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, 16 Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin, 17 Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur, 18 Hodijah, 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 Ahijah, Hanan, Anan, 27 Malluch, Harim, and Baanah.
The Covenant That Was Sealed
28 (AI)Now the rest of the people—the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the Nethinim, (AJ)and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, everyone who had knowledge and understanding— 29 these joined with their brethren, their nobles, (AK)and entered into a curse and an oath (AL)to walk in God’s Law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes: 30 We would not give (AM)our daughters as wives to the peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons; 31 (AN)if the peoples of the land brought [l]wares or any grain to sell on the Sabbath day, we would not buy it from them on the Sabbath, or on a holy day; and we would forego the (AO)seventh year’s produce and the (AP)exacting[m] of every debt.
32 Also we made ordinances for ourselves, to exact from ourselves yearly (AQ)one-third of a shekel for the service of the house of our God: 33 for (AR)the showbread, for the regular grain offering, for the (AS)regular burnt offering of the Sabbaths, the New Moons, and the set feasts; for the holy things, for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and all the work of the house of our God. 34 We cast lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people, (AT)for bringing the wood offering into the house of our God, according to our fathers’ houses, at the appointed times year by year, to burn on the altar of the Lord our God (AU)as it is written in the Law.
35 And we made ordinances (AV)to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of all trees, year by year, to the house of the Lord; 36 to bring the (AW)firstborn of our sons and our cattle, as it is written in the Law, and the firstborn of our herds and our flocks, to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God; 37 (AX)to bring the firstfruits of our dough, our offerings, the fruit from all kinds of trees, the new wine and oil, to the priests, to the storerooms of the [n]house of our God; and to bring (AY)the tithes of our land to the Levites, for the Levites should receive the tithes in all our farming communities. 38 And the priest, the descendant of Aaron, shall be with the Levites (AZ)when the Levites receive tithes; and the Levites shall bring up a tenth of the tithes to the house of our God, to (BA)the rooms of the storehouse.
39 For the children of Israel and the children of Levi (BB)shall bring the offering of the grain, of the new wine and the oil, to the storerooms where the articles of the sanctuary are, where the priests who minister and the gatekeepers (BC)and the singers are; and we will not (BD)neglect the house of our God.
Footnotes
- Nehemiah 9:22 Lit. corners
- Nehemiah 9:22 So with MT, Vg.; LXX omits The land of
- Nehemiah 9:24 Lit. sons
- Nehemiah 9:25 Lit. trees for eating
- Nehemiah 9:26 admonished or warned them
- Nehemiah 9:29 admonished them
- Nehemiah 9:29 presumptuously
- Nehemiah 9:29 Became stubborn
- Nehemiah 9:30 admonished or warned them
- Nehemiah 9:32 hardship
- Nehemiah 10:1 Heb. Tirshatha
- Nehemiah 10:31 merchandise
- Nehemiah 10:31 collection
- Nehemiah 10:37 Temple
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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