Nehemiah 9:22-10:39

New American Standard Bible

²²You also gave them kingdoms and peoples,
And allotted them to them as a ^[a]boundary.
^(A)They took possession of the land of Sihon ^[b]the king of Heshbon
And the land of Og the king of Bashan.
²³You made their sons as numerous as ^(B)the stars of heaven,
And You brought them into the land
Which You had told their fathers to enter and possess.
²⁴^(C)So their sons entered and took possession of the land.
And ^(D)You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites,
And You handed them over to them, with their kings and the peoples of the land,
To do with them ^[c]as they desired.
²⁵^(E)They captured fortified cities and a ^[d]^(F)fertile land.
They took possession of ^(G)houses full of every good thing,
Carved out cisterns, vineyards, olive groves,
Fruit trees in abundance.
So they ate, were filled and ^(H)put on fat,
And ^(I)lived luxuriously in Your great goodness.

²⁶“^(J)But they became rebellious and revolted against You,
And ^(K)threw Your Law behind their backs
And ^(L)killed Your prophets who had ^(M)admonished them
In order to bring them back to You,
And ^(N)they committed great blasphemies.
²⁷Therefore You ^(O)handed them over to their enemies who oppressed them,
But when they cried out to You ^(P)in the time of their distress,
You heard from heaven, and according to Your great compassion
You ^(Q)gave them ^[e]people who saved them from the hand of their enemies.
²⁸But ^(R)as soon as they had rest, they did evil again before You;
Therefore You abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they ruled over them.
When they cried out again to You, You heard from heaven,
And ^(S)many times You rescued them according to Your compassion,
²⁹And ^(T)admonished them in order to turn them back to Your Law.
Yet ^(U)they acted arrogantly and did not listen to Your commandments but sinned against Your ordinances,
^(V)Which, if a person ^[f]follows them, then he will live by them.
And they ^[g]^(W)turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck, and would not listen.
³⁰^(X)However, You remained patient with them for many years,
And ^(Y)admonished them by ^(Z)Your Spirit through Your prophets,
Yet they would not listen.
Therefore You handed them over to the peoples of the lands.
³¹Nevertheless, in Your great compassion You ^(AA)did not make an end of them or abandon them,
For You are ^(AB)a gracious and compassionate God.

³²“Now then, our God, ^(AC)the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps His covenant and faithfulness,
Do not let all the hardship seem insignificant before You,
Which has happened to us, our kings, our leaders, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and to all Your people,
^(AD)From the days of the kings of Assyria to this day.
³³However, ^(AE)You are righteous in everything that has happened to us;
For You have dealt faithfully, but we have acted wickedly.
³⁴For our kings, our leaders, our priests, and our fathers have not kept Your Law
Or paid attention to Your commandments and Your ^[h]admonitions with which You have ^[i]admonished them.
³⁵But ^(AF)they, in their own kingdom,
^(AG)With Your great goodness which You gave them,
With the broad and rich land which You placed before them,
Did not serve You or turn from their evil deeds.
³⁶Behold, ^(AH)we are slaves today,
And as for the land which You gave to our fathers to eat its fruit and its bounty,
Behold, we are slaves on it.
³⁷And ^(AI)its abundant produce is for the kings
Whom You have set over us because of our sins;
They also rule over our bodies
And over our cattle as they please,
So we are in great distress.

A Covenant Results

³⁸“^[j]Now because of all this
^(AJ)We are making an agreement in writing;
And on the ^(AK)sealed document are the names of our leaders, our Levites, and our priests.”

Signers of the Document

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

Obligations of the Document

²⁸Now ^(AM)the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and ^(AN)all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, all those who had knowledge and understanding, ²⁹are joining with their kinsmen, their nobles, and are ^[m]^(AO)taking on themselves a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law, which was given through Moses, God’s servant, and to keep and to ^[n]comply with all the commandments of ^[o]God our Lord, and His ordinances and statutes; ³⁰and ^(AP)that we will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons. ³¹As ^(AQ)for the peoples of the land who bring wares or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not ^[p]buy from them on the Sabbath or on any holy day; and we will forgo the crops of the ^(AR)seventh year and ^[q]^(AS)every debt.

³²We also imposed ^[r]on ourselves the obligation to contribute yearly ^(AT)a third of a shekel for the service of the house of our God: ³³for the ^(AU)showbread, for the continual grain offering, for the continual burnt offering, the Sabbaths, the new moons, for the appointed times, for the holy things, and for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and all the work of the house of our God.

³⁴Likewise ^(AV)we cast lots ^(AW)for the supply of wood among the priests, the Levites, and the people so that they could bring it to the house of our God, according to our fathers’ households, at set times annually, to burn on the altar of the Lord our God, as it is written in the Law; ³⁵and so that they could bring the first fruits of our ground and ^(AX)the first fruits of all the fruit of every tree to the house of the Lord annually, ³⁶and ^(AY)bring to the house of our God the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, and the firstborn of our herds and our flocks as it is written in the Law, for the priests who are ministering in the house of our God. ³⁷^(AZ)We will also bring the first of our ^[s]dough, our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the new wine, and the oil ^(BA)to the priests at the chambers of the house of our God, and the ^(BB)tithe of our ground to the Levites, for the Levites are they who receive the tithes in all the rural towns. ³⁸And ^(BC)the priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive tithes, and the Levites shall bring up the tenth of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers of ^(BD)the storehouse. ³⁹For the sons of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the ^(BE)contribution of the grain, the new wine, and the oil to the chambers; the utensils of the sanctuary, the priests who are ministering, the gatekeepers, and the singers are there. So ^(BF)we will not ^[t]neglect the house of our God.