Nehemiah 10:26-39

10:26 Ahiah, Hanan, Anan,

10:27 Malluch, Harim, and Baanah.

10:28 “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 ¹  because of the law of God, along with their wives, their sons, and their daughters, all of whom are able to understand – 10:29 hereby participate with their colleagues the town leaders ²  and enter into a curse and an oath ³  to adhere to ⁴  the law of God which was given through Moses the servant of God, and to obey ⁵  carefully all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, ⁶  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 ⁷  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. ⁸  10:32 We accept responsibility for fulfilling ⁹  the commands to give ¹⁰  one third of a shekel each year for the work of the temple ¹¹  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 ¹²  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 ¹³  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 ¹⁴  of our land to the Levites, for the Levites are the ones who collect the tithes in all the cities where we work. ¹⁵  10:38 A priest of Aaron’s line ¹⁶  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.”

[10:28]  ¹ tn Heb “from the peoples of the lands.” Cf. vv. 30, 31.

[10:29]  ² tn Heb “the nobles.”

[10:29]  ³ tn The expression “a curse and an oath” may be a hendiadys, meaning “an oath with penalties.”

[10:29]  ⁴ tn Heb “to walk in.”

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

[10:29]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[10:31]  ⁷ tn Heb “take.”

[10:31]  ⁸ tn Heb “debt of every hand,” an idiom referring to the hand that holds legally binding contractual agreements.

[10:32]  ⁹ tn Heb “cause to stand on us.”

[10:32]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Heb “house” (also in vv. 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39).

[10:34]  ¹² tn Heb “the house of our fathers.”

[10:35]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a tithe of our land.”

[10:37]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “of our work.”

[10:38]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “And the priest the son of Aaron.”