Nehemiah 10:35-39

10:35 We also accept responsibility for ¹  bringing the first fruits of our land and the first fruits of every fruit tree year by year to the temple of the LORD. 10:36 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. 10:37 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 ²  of our land to the Levites, for the Levites are the ones who collect the tithes in all the cities where we work. ³  10:38 A priest of Aaron’s line ⁴  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. 10:39 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.”

Nehemiah 13:10-12

13:10 I also discovered that the grain offerings for the Levites had not been provided, and that as a result the Levites and the singers who performed this work had all gone off to their fields. 13:11 So I registered a complaint with the leaders, asking “Why is the temple of God neglected?” Then I gathered them and reassigned them to their positions. ⁵ 

13:12 Then all of Judah brought the tithe of the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil to the storerooms.

Nehemiah 13:2

13:2 for they had not met the Israelites with food ⁶  and water, but instead had hired Balaam to curse them. (Our God, however, turned the curse into blessing.)

Nehemiah 1:5-6

1:5 Then I said, “Please, O LORD God of heaven, great and awesome God, who keeps his loving covenant ⁷  with those who love him and obey ⁸  his commandments, 1:6 may your ear be attentive and your eyes be open to hear the prayer of your servant that I am praying to you today throughout both day and night on behalf of your servants the Israelites. I am confessing the sins of the Israelites that we have committed ⁹  against you – both I myself and my family ¹⁰  have sinned.

Malachi 3:8-10

3:8 Can a person rob ¹¹  God? You indeed are robbing me, but you say, ‘How are we robbing you?’ In tithes and contributions! ¹²  3:9 You are bound for judgment ¹³  because you are robbing me – this whole nation is guilty. ¹⁴ 

3:10 “Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse ¹⁵  so that there may be food in my temple. Test me in this matter,” says the Lord who rules over all, “to see if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until there is no room for it all.

Galatians 6:6

6:6 Now the one who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with the one who teaches ¹⁶  it.

¹ tn The words “we accept responsibility” are not included in the Hebrew text, but are inferred from v. 33 (so also in v. 37).

² tn Heb “a tithe of our land.”

³ tn Heb “of our work.”

⁴ tn Heb “And the priest the son of Aaron.”

⁵ tn Heb “and I stood them on their standing.”

⁶ tn Heb “bread.” The Hebrew term is generic here, however, referring to more than bread alone.

⁷ tn Heb “the covenant and loyal love.” The phrase is a hendiadys: the first noun retains its full nominal sense, while the second noun functions adjectivally (“loyal love” = loving). Alternately, the first might function adjectivally and the second noun function as the noun: “covenant and loyal love” = covenant fidelity (see Neh 9:32).

⁸ tn Heb “keep.” The Hebrew verb שָׁמַר (shamar, “to observe; to keep”) is often used as an idiom that means “to obey” the commandments of God (e.g., Exod 20:6; Deut 5:16; 23:24; 29:8; Judg 2:22; 1 Kgs 2:43; 11:11; Ps 119:8, 17, 34; Jer 35:18; Ezek 17:14; Amos 2:4). See BDB 1036 s.v. 3.c.

⁹ tn Heb “have sinned.” For stylistic reasons – to avoid redundancy in English – this was translated as “committed.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “the house of my father.”

¹¹ tc The LXX presupposes an underlying Hebrew text of עָקַב (’aqav, “deceive”), a metathesis of קָבַע (qava’, “rob”), in all four uses of the verb here (vv. 8-9). The intent probably is to soften the impact of “robbing” God, but the language of the passage is intentionally bold and there is no reason to go against the reading of the MT (which is followed here by most English versions).

¹² sn The tithes and contributions mentioned here are probably those used to sustain the Levites (see Num 18:8, 11, 19, 21-24).

¹³ tn Heb “cursed with a curse” that is, “under a curse” (so NIV, NLT, CEV).

¹⁴ tn The phrase “is guilty” is not present in the Hebrew text but is implied, and has been supplied in the translation for clarification and stylistic reasons.

¹⁵ tn The Hebrew phrase בֵּית הָאוֹצָר (bet ha’otsar, here translated “storehouse”) refers to a kind of temple warehouse described more fully in Nehemiah (where the term לִשְׁכָּה גְדוֹלָה [lishkah gÿdolah, “great chamber”] is used) as a place for storing grain, frankincense, temple vessels, wine, and oil (Neh 13:5). Cf. TEV “to the Temple.”

¹⁶ tn Or “instructs,” “imparts.”