²⁹ All the men joined the nobles of their people. They made a firm agreement. They made a promise and said they would be cursed if they didn’t keep it. They promised to follow the Law of God. It had been given through Moses, the servant of God. They promised to obey carefully all the commands, rules and laws of the Lord our Lord.

³⁰ Here is what the priests, Levites and people said. “We promise not to let our daughters marry men from the nations around us. And we promise not to let their daughters marry our sons.

³¹ “The people around us will bring goods and grain to sell on the Sabbath day. But we won’t buy anything from them on the Sabbath day. In fact, we won’t buy anything from them on any holy day. Every seventh year we won’t farm the land. And we’ll forgive people what they owe us.