Psalms 119:106

119:106 I have vowed and solemnly sworn

to keep your just regulations.

Psalms 119:115

119:115 Turn away from me, you evil men,

so that I can observe ¹  the commands of my God. ² 

Psalms 66:14

66:14 which my lips uttered

and my mouth spoke when I was in trouble.

Deuteronomy 26:17-18

26:17 Today you have declared the Lord to be your God, and that you will walk in his ways, keep his statutes, commandments, and ordinances, and obey him. 26:18 And today the Lord has declared you to be his special people (as he already promised you) so you may keep all his commandments.

Joshua 24:15

24:15 If you have no desire ³  to worship ⁴  the Lord, choose today whom you will worship, ⁵  whether it be the gods whom your ancestors ⁶  worshiped ⁷  beyond the Euphrates, ⁸  or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But I and my family ⁹  will worship ¹⁰  the Lord!”

Joshua 24:18

24:18 The Lord drove out from before us all the nations, including the Amorites who lived in the land. So we too will worship ¹¹  the Lord, for he is our God!”

Joshua 24:21

24:21 The people said to Joshua, “No! We really will ¹²  worship ¹³  the Lord!”

Joshua 24:24-27

24:24 The people said to Joshua, “We will worship ¹⁴  the Lord our God and obey him.” ¹⁵ 

24:25 That day Joshua drew up an agreement ¹⁶  for the people, and he established rules and regulations ¹⁷  for them in Shechem. 24:26 Joshua wrote these words in the Law Scroll of God. He then took a large stone and set it up there under the oak tree near the Lord’s shrine. 24:27 Joshua said to all the people, “Look, this stone will be a witness against you, for it has heard everything the Lord said to us. ¹⁸  It will be a witness against you if ¹⁹  you deny your God.”

Nehemiah 10:29-39

10:29 hereby participate with their colleagues the town leaders ²⁰  and enter into a curse and an oath ²¹  to adhere to ²²  the law of God which was given through Moses the servant of God, and to obey ²³  carefully all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, ²⁴  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 ²⁵  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. ²⁶  10:32 We accept responsibility for fulfilling ²⁷  the commands to give ²⁸  one third of a shekel each year for the work of the temple ²⁹  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 ³⁰  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 ³¹  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 ³²  of our land to the Levites, for the Levites are the ones who collect the tithes in all the cities where we work. ³³  10:38 A priest of Aaron’s line ³⁴  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.”

[119:115]  ¹ tn The cohortative verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.

[119:115]  ² tn The psalmist has already declared that he observes God’s commands despite persecution, so here the idea must be “so that I might observe the commands of my God unhindered by threats.”

[24:15]  ³ tn Heb “if it is bad in your eyes.”

[24:15]  ⁴ tn Or “to serve.”

[24:15]  ⁵ tn Or “will serve.”

[24:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “your fathers.”

[24:15]  ⁷ tn Or “served.”

[24:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “the river,” referring to the Euphrates. This has been specified in the translation for clarity; see v. 3.

[24:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “house.”

[24:15]  ¹⁰ tn Or “will serve.”

[24:18]  ¹¹ tn Or “will serve.”

[24:21]  ¹² tn The translation assumes that כִּי (ki) is emphatic. Another option is to take it as explanatory, “No, for we will….”

[24:21]  ¹³ tn Or “will serve.”

[24:24]  ¹⁴ tn Or “will serve.”

[24:24]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and listen to his voice.”

[24:25]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

[24:25]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “a statute and a judgment.”

[24:27]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “all the words of the Lord which he spoke with us.”

[24:27]  ¹⁹ tn Or “lest,” “so that you might not.”

[10:29]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the nobles.”

[10:29]  ²¹ tn The expression “a curse and an oath” may be a hendiadys, meaning “an oath with penalties.”

[10:29]  ²² tn Heb “to walk in.”

[10:29]  ²³ tn Heb “keep.” See the note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.

[10:29]  ²⁴ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[10:31]  ²⁵ tn Heb “take.”

[10:31]  ²⁶ tn Heb “debt of every hand,” an idiom referring to the hand that holds legally binding contractual agreements.

[10:32]  ²⁷ tn Heb “cause to stand on us.”

[10:32]  ²⁸ 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]  ²⁹ tn Heb “house” (also in vv. 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39).

[10:34]  ³⁰ tn Heb “the house of our fathers.”

[10:35]  ³¹ 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]  ³² tn Heb “a tithe of our land.”

[10:37]  ³³ tn Heb “of our work.”

[10:38]  ³⁴ tn Heb “And the priest the son of Aaron.”