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The Vow of the People

28 Then the rest of the people—the priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, Temple servants, and all who had separated themselves from the pagan people of the land in order to obey the Law of God, together with their wives, sons, daughters, and all who were old enough to understand— 29 joined their leaders and bound themselves with an oath. They swore a curse on themselves if they failed to obey the Law of God as issued by his servant Moses. They solemnly promised to carefully follow all the commands, regulations, and decrees of the Lord our Lord:

30 “We promise not to let our daughters marry the pagan people of the land, and not to let our sons marry their daughters.

31 “We also promise that if the people of the land should bring any merchandise or grain to be sold on the Sabbath or on any other holy day, we will refuse to buy it. Every seventh year we will let our land rest, and we will cancel all debts owed to us.

32 “In addition, we promise to obey the command to pay the annual Temple tax of one-eighth of an ounce of silver[a] for the care of the Temple of our God. 33 This will provide for the Bread of the Presence; for the regular grain offerings and burnt offerings; for the offerings on the Sabbaths, the new moon celebrations, and the annual festivals; for the holy offerings; and for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel. It will provide for everything necessary for the work of the Temple of our God.

34 “We have cast sacred lots to determine when—at regular times each year—the families of the priests, Levites, and the common people should bring wood to God’s Temple to be burned on the altar of the Lord our God, as is written in the Law.

35 “We promise to bring the first part of every harvest to the Lord’s Temple year after year—whether it be a crop from the soil or from our fruit trees. 36 We agree to give God our oldest sons and the firstborn of all our herds and flocks, as prescribed in the Law. We will present them to the priests who minister in the Temple of our God. 37 We will store the produce in the storerooms of the Temple of our God. We will bring the best of our flour and other grain offerings, the best of our fruit, and the best of our new wine and olive oil. And we promise to bring to the Levites a tenth of everything our land produces, for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in all our rural towns.

38 “A priest—a descendant of Aaron—will be with the Levites as they receive these tithes. And a tenth of all that is collected as tithes will be delivered by the Levites to the Temple of our God and placed in the storerooms. 39 The people and the Levites must bring these offerings of grain, new wine, and olive oil to the storerooms and place them in the sacred containers near the ministering priests, the gatekeepers, and the singers.

“We promise together not to neglect the Temple of our God.”

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Footnotes

  1. 10:32 Hebrew tax of 1⁄3 of a shekel [4 grams].

28 “Now the rest of the people—the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple attendants, and all those who have separated themselves from the neighboring peoples[a] because of the law of God, along with their wives, their sons, and their daughters, all of whom are able to understand— 29 hereby participate with their colleagues the town leaders[b] and enter into a curse and an oath[c] to adhere to[d] the law of God which was given through Moses the servant of God, and to obey[e] carefully all the commandments of the Lord our Lord,[f] along with his ordinances and his statutes.

30 “We will not give our daughters in marriage to the neighboring peoples, and we will not take their daughters in marriage for our sons. 31 We will not buy[g] on the Sabbath or on a holy day from the neighboring peoples who bring their wares and all kinds of grain to sell on the Sabbath day. We will let the fields lie fallow every seventh year, and we will cancel every loan.[h] 32 We accept responsibility for fulfilling[i] the commands to give[j] one third of a shekel each year for the work of the temple[k] of our God, 33 for the loaves of presentation and for the regular grain offerings and regular burnt offerings, for the Sabbaths, for the new moons, for the appointed meetings, for the holy offerings, for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the temple of our God.

34 “We—the priests, the Levites, and the people—have cast lots concerning the wood offerings, to bring them to the temple of our God according to our families[l] at the designated times year by year to burn on the altar of the Lord our God, as is written in the law. 35 We also accept responsibility for[m] bringing the firstfruits of our land and the firstfruits of every fruit tree year by year to the temple of the Lord. 36 We also accept responsibility, as is written in the law, for bringing the firstborn of our sons and our cattle and the firstborn of our herds and of our flocks to the temple of our God, to the priests who are ministering in the temple of our God. 37 We will also bring the first of our coarse meal, of our contributions, of the fruit of every tree, of new wine, and of olive oil to the priests at the storerooms of the temple of our God, along with a tenth of the produce[n] of our land to the Levites, for the Levites are the ones who collect the tithes in all the cities where we work.[o] 38 A priest of Aaron’s line[p] will be with the Levites when the Levites collect the tithes, and the Levites will bring up a tenth of the tithes to the temple of our God, to the storerooms of the treasury. 39 The Israelites and the Levites will bring the contribution of the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil to the storerooms where the utensils of the sanctuary are kept, and where the priests who minister stay, along with the gatekeepers and the singers. We will not neglect the temple of our God.”

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Footnotes

  1. Nehemiah 10:28 tn Heb “from the peoples of the lands.” Cf. vv. 30, 31.
  2. Nehemiah 10:29 tn Heb “the nobles.”
  3. Nehemiah 10:29 tn The expression “a curse and an oath” may be a hendiadys, meaning “an oath with penalties.”
  4. Nehemiah 10:29 tn Heb “to walk in.”
  5. Nehemiah 10:29 tn Heb “keep.” See the note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.
  6. Nehemiah 10:29 tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (ʾadonay).
  7. Nehemiah 10:31 tn Heb “take.”
  8. Nehemiah 10:31 tn Heb “debt of every hand,” an idiom referring to the hand that holds legally binding contractual agreements.
  9. Nehemiah 10:32 tn Heb “cause to stand on us.”
  10. Nehemiah 10:32 tc The MT reads “to give upon us.” However, the term עָלֵינוּ (ʿalenu, “upon us”) should probably be deleted, following a few medieval Hebrew mss, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Vulgate.
  11. Nehemiah 10:32 tn Heb “house” (also in vv. 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39).
  12. Nehemiah 10:34 tn Heb “the house of our fathers.”
  13. Nehemiah 10:35 tn The words “we accept responsibility” are not included in the Hebrew text, but are inferred from v. 33 (so also in v. 36).
  14. Nehemiah 10:37 tn Heb “a tithe of our land.”
  15. Nehemiah 10:37 tn Heb “of our work.”
  16. Nehemiah 10:38 tn Heb “And the priest the son of Aaron.”