³² “Now therefore, our God, the great God, mighty^(A) and awesome,^(B) who keeps his covenant of love,^(C) do not let all this hardship seem trifling in your eyes—the hardship^(D) that has come on us, on our kings and leaders, on our priests and prophets, on our ancestors and all your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today. ³³ In all that has happened to us, you have remained righteous;^(E) you have acted faithfully, while we acted wickedly.^{(F) 34} Our kings,^(G) our leaders, our priests and our ancestors^(H) did not follow your law; they did not pay attention to your commands or the statutes you warned them to keep. ³⁵ Even while they were in their kingdom, enjoying your great goodness^(I) to them in the spacious and fertile land you gave them, they did not serve you^(J) or turn from their evil ways.

³⁶ “But see, we are slaves^(K) today, slaves in the land you gave our ancestors so they could eat its fruit and the other good things it produces. ³⁷ Because of our sins, its abundant harvest goes to the kings you have placed over us. They rule over our bodies and our cattle as they please. We are in great distress.^(L)

²⁸ “The rest of the people—priests, Levites, gatekeepers, musicians, temple servants^(A) and all who separated themselves from the neighboring peoples^(B) for the sake of the Law of God, together with their wives and all their sons and daughters who are able to understand— ²⁹ all these now join their fellow Israelites the nobles, and bind themselves with a curse and an oath^(C) to follow the Law of God given through Moses the servant of God and to obey carefully all the commands, regulations and decrees of the Lord our Lord.

³⁷ “Moreover, we will bring to the storerooms of the house of our God, to the priests, the first of our ground meal, of our grain offerings, of the fruit of all our trees and of our new wine and olive oil.^(A) And we will bring a tithe^(B) of our crops to the Levites,^(C) for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in all the towns where we work.^{(D) 38} A priest descended from Aaron is to accompany the Levites when they receive the tithes, and the Levites are to bring a tenth of the tithes^(E) up to the house of our God, to the storerooms of the treasury. ³⁹ The people of Israel, including the Levites, are to bring their contributions of grain, new wine and olive oil to the storerooms, where the articles for the sanctuary and for the ministering priests, the gatekeepers and the musicians are also kept.

“We will not neglect the house of our God.”^(F)