2 Chronicles 15:12

15:12 They solemnly agreed ¹  to seek the Lord God of their ancestors ²  with their whole heart and being.

2 Chronicles 15:14

15:14 They swore their allegiance to the Lord, shouting their approval loudly and sounding trumpets and horns. ³ 

2 Chronicles 29:10

29:10 Now I intend ⁴  to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, so that he may relent from his raging anger. ⁵ 

2 Chronicles 34:31-32

34:31 The king stood by his pillar ⁶  and renewed ⁷  the covenant before the Lord, agreeing to follow ⁸  the Lord and to obey his commandments, laws, and rules with all his heart and being, ⁹  by carrying out the terms ¹⁰  of this covenant recorded on this scroll. 34:32 He made all who were in Jerusalem and Benjamin agree to it. ¹¹  The residents of Jerusalem acted in accordance with the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors.

Deuteronomy 5:2-3

5:2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. 5:3 He ¹²  did not make this covenant with our ancestors ¹³  but with us, we who are here today, all of us living now.

Deuteronomy 29:1-15

Narrative Interlude

29:1 (28:69) ¹⁴  These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Horeb. ¹⁵ 

The Exodus, Wandering, and Conquest Reviewed

29:2 Moses proclaimed to all Israel as follows: “You have seen all that the Lord did ¹⁶  in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, all his servants, and his land. 29:3 Your eyes have seen the great judgments, ¹⁷  those signs and mighty wonders. 29:4 But to this very day the Lord has not given you an understanding mind, perceptive eyes, or discerning ears! ¹⁸  29:5 I have led you through the desert for forty years. Your clothing has not worn out ¹⁹  nor have your sandals ²⁰  deteriorated. 29:6 You have eaten no bread and drunk no wine or beer – all so that you might know that I ²¹  am the Lord your God! 29:7 When you came to this place King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan came out to make war and we defeated them. 29:8 Then we took their land and gave it as an inheritance to Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh.

The Present Covenant Setting

29:9 “Therefore, keep the terms ²²  of this covenant and obey them so that you may be successful in everything you do. 29:10 You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God – the heads of your tribes, ²³  your elders, your officials, every Israelite man, 29:11 your infants, your wives, and the ²⁴  foreigners living in your encampment, those who chop wood and those who carry water – 29:12 so that you may enter by oath into the covenant the Lord your God is making with you today. ²⁵  29:13 Today he will affirm that you are his people and that he is your God, ²⁶  just as he promised you and as he swore by oath to your ancestors ²⁷  Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 29:14 It is not with you alone that I am making this covenant by oath, 29:15 but with whoever stands with us here today before the Lord our God as well as those not with us here today. ²⁸ 

Deuteronomy 29:2

The Exodus, Wandering, and Conquest Reviewed

29:2 Moses proclaimed to all Israel as follows: “You have seen all that the Lord did ²⁹  in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, all his servants, and his land.

Deuteronomy 11:17

11:17 Then the anger of the Lord will erupt ³⁰  against you and he will close up the sky ³¹  so that it does not rain. The land will not yield its produce, and you will soon be removed ³²  from the good land that the Lord ³³  is about to give you.

Ezra 10:3

10:3 Therefore let us enact ³⁴  a covenant with our God to send away all these women and their offspring, in keeping with your counsel, my lord, ³⁵  and that of those who respect ³⁶  the commandments of our God. And let it be done according to the law.

Nehemiah 5:12-13

5:12 They replied, “We will return these things, ³⁷  and we will no longer demand anything from them. We will do just as you say.” Then I called the priests and made the wealthy and the officials ³⁸  swear to do what had been promised. ³⁹  5:13 I also shook out my garment, ⁴⁰  and I said, “In this way may God shake out from his house and his property every person who does not carry out ⁴¹  this matter. In this way may he be shaken out and emptied!” All the assembly replied, “So be it!” and they praised the LORD. Then the people did as they had promised. ⁴² 

Nehemiah 9:38

The People Pledge to be Faithful

9:38 (10:1) ⁴³  “Because of all of this we are entering into a binding covenant ⁴⁴  in written form; ⁴⁵  our leaders, our Levites, and our priests have affixed their names ⁴⁶  on the sealed document.”

Nehemiah 10:29-39

10:29 hereby participate with their colleagues the town leaders ⁴⁷  and enter into a curse and an oath ⁴⁸  to adhere to ⁴⁹  the law of God which was given through Moses the servant of God, and to obey ⁵⁰  carefully all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, ⁵¹  along with his ordinances and his statutes.

10:30 “We will not give our daughters in marriage to the neighboring peoples, and we will not take their daughters in marriage for our sons. 10:31 We will not buy ⁵²  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. ⁵³  10:32 We accept responsibility for fulfilling ⁵⁴  the commands to give ⁵⁵  one third of a shekel each year for the work of the temple ⁵⁶  of our God, 10:33 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.

10:34 “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 ⁵⁷  at the designated times year by year to burn on the altar of the LORD our God, as is written in the law. 10:35 We also accept responsibility for ⁵⁸  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 ⁵⁹  of our land to the Levites, for the Levites are the ones who collect the tithes in all the cities where we work. ⁶⁰  10:38 A priest of Aaron’s line ⁶¹  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.”

[15:12]  ¹ tn Heb “entered into a covenant.”

[15:12]  ² tn Heb “fathers.”

[15:14]  ³ tn Heb “with a loud voice and with a shout and with trumpets and with horns.”

[29:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “now it is with my heart.”

[29:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “so that the rage of his anger might turn from us.” The jussive with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding statement of intention.

[34:31]  ⁶ tc This assumes an emendation to עַמּוּדוֹ (’ammudo), see 23:13. The MT reads “at his place.”

[34:31]  ⁷ tn Heb “cut,” that is, “made” or “agreed to.”

[34:31]  ⁸ tn Heb “walk after.”

[34:31]  ⁹ tn Or “soul.”

[34:31]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “words.”

[34:32]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and he caused to stand everyone who was found in Jerusalem and Benjamin.”

[5:3]  ¹² tn Heb “the Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[5:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “fathers.”

[29:1]  ¹⁴ sn Beginning with 29:1, the verse numbers through 29:29 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 29:1 ET = 28:69 HT, 29:2 ET = 29:1 HT, 29:3 ET = 29:2 HT, etc., through 29:29 ET = 29:28 HT. With 30:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.

[29:1]  ¹⁵ sn Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai (which some English versions substitute here for clarity, cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[29:2]  ¹⁶ tn The Hebrew text includes “to your eyes,” but this is redundant in English style (cf. the preceding “you have seen”) and is omitted in the translation.

[29:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “testings.” This is a reference to the plagues; see note at 4:34.

[29:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “a heart to know, eyes to see and ears to hear” (NASB similar); NAB, NRSV “a mind to understand, or eyes to see, or ears to hear.”

[29:5]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew text includes “on you.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[29:5]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew text includes “from on your feet.”

[29:6]  ²¹ tc The LXX reads “that he is the Lord your God.”

[29:9]  ²² tn Heb “words.”

[29:10]  ²³ tc Heb “your heads, your tribes.” The Syriac presupposes either “heads of your tribes” or “your heads, your judges,” etc. (reading שֹׁפְטֵכֶם [shofÿtekhem] for שִׁבְטֵיכֶם [shivtekhem]). Its comparative difficulty favors the originality of the MT reading. Cf. KJV “your captains of your tribes”; NRSV “the leaders of your tribes”; NLT “your tribal leaders.”

[29:11]  ²⁴ tn Heb “your.”

[29:12]  ²⁵ tn Heb “for you to pass on into the covenant of the Lord your God and into his oath, which the Lord your God is cutting with you today.”

[29:13]  ²⁶ tn Heb “in order to establish you today to him for a people and he will be to you for God.” Verses 10-13 are one long sentence in Hebrew. The translation divides this into two sentences for stylistic reasons.

[29:13]  ²⁷ tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 25).

[29:15]  ²⁸ tn This is interpreted by some English versions as a reference to generations not yet born (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT).

[29:2]  ²⁹ tn The Hebrew text includes “to your eyes,” but this is redundant in English style (cf. the preceding “you have seen”) and is omitted in the translation.

[11:17]  ³⁰ tn Heb “will become hot”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “will be kindled”; NAB “will flare up”; NIV, NLT “will burn.”

[11:17]  ³¹ tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[11:17]  ³² tn Or “be destroyed”; NAB, NIV “will soon perish.”

[11:17]  ³³ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 11:4.

[10:3]  ³⁴ tn Heb “cut.”

[10:3]  ³⁵ tn The MT vocalizes this word as a plural, which could be understood as a reference to God. But the context seems to suggest that a human lord is intended. The apparatus of BHS suggests repointing the word as a singular (“my lord”), but this is unnecessary. The plural (“my lords”) can be understood in an honorific sense even when a human being is in view. Most English versions regard this as a reference to Ezra, so the present translation supplies “your” before “counsel” to make this clear.

[10:3]  ³⁶ tn Heb “who tremble at”; NAB, NIV “who fear.”

[5:12]  ³⁷ tn The words “these things” are not included in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[5:12]  ³⁸ tn Heb “took an oath from them”; the referents (the wealthy and the officials, cf. v. 7) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:12]  ³⁹ tn Heb “according to this word.”

[5:13]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “my bosom.”

[5:13]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “cause to stand.”

[5:13]  ⁴² tn Heb “according to this word.”

[9:38]  ⁴³ sn Beginning with 9:38, the verse numbers through 10:39 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 9:38 ET = 10:1 HT, 10:1 ET = 10:2 HT, 10:2 ET = 10:3 HT, etc., through 10:39 ET = 10:40 HT. Beginning with 11:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.

[9:38]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “we are cutting.”

[9:38]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “and writing.”

[9:38]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “our leaders, our Levites, and our priests on the sealed document.” The Hebrew text is elliptical here; the words “have affixed their names” are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons. Cf. v. 2.

[10:29]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “the nobles.”

[10:29]  ⁴⁸ tn The expression “a curse and an oath” may be a hendiadys, meaning “an oath with penalties.”

[10:29]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “to walk in.”

[10:29]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “keep.” See the note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.

[10:29]  ⁵¹ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[10:31]  ⁵² tn Heb “take.”

[10:31]  ⁵³ tn Heb “debt of every hand,” an idiom referring to the hand that holds legally binding contractual agreements.

[10:32]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “cause to stand on us.”

[10:32]  ⁵⁵ tc The MT reads “to give upon us.” However, the term עָלֵינוּ (’alenu, “upon us”) should probably be deleted, following a few medieval Hebrew MSS, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Vulgate.

[10:32]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “house” (also in vv. 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39).

[10:34]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “the house of our fathers.”

[10:35]  ⁵⁸ tn The words “we accept responsibility” are not included in the Hebrew text, but are inferred from v. 33 (so also in v. 37).

[10:37]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “a tithe of our land.”

[10:37]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “of our work.”

[10:38]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “And the priest the son of Aaron.”