Nehemiah

CHAPTER 10

Signatories to the Pact. 1* In view of all this, we are entering into a firm pact, which we are putting into writing. On the sealed document appear the names of our princes, our Levites, and our priests.

2On the sealed document: the governor Nehemiah, son of Hacaliah, and Zedekiah.

3a Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, 4Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah, 5Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch, 6Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, 7Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch, 8Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, 9Maaziah, Bilgai, Shemaiah: these are the priests.

10The Levites: Jeshua, son of Azaniah; Binnui, of the descendants of Henadad; Kadmiel; 11b and their kinsmen Shebaniah, Hodiah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan, 12Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah, 13Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, 14Hodiah, Bani, Beninu.

15The leaders of the people: Parosh, Pahath-moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani, 16Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, 17Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin, 18Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur, 19Hodiah, Hashum, Bezai, 20Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai, 21Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir, 22Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua, 23Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah, 24Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub, 25Hallhohesh, Pilha, Shobek, 26Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah, 27Ahiah, Hanan, Anan, 28Malluch, Harim, Baanah.

Provisions of the Pact. 29The rest of the people, priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, temple servants, and all others who have separated themselves from the local inhabitants in favor of the law of God, with their wives, their sons, their daughters, all who are of the age of discretion, 30c join their influential kindred, and with the sanction of a curse take this oath to follow the law of God given through Moses, the servant of God, and to observe carefully all the commandments of the LORD, our Lord, his ordinances and his statutes.

31d We will not marry our daughters to the local inhabitants, and we will not accept their daughters for our sons.

32e When the local inhabitants bring in merchandise or any kind of grain for sale on the sabbath day, we will not buy from them on the sabbath or on any other holy day. In the seventh year we will forgo the produce, and forgive every kind of debt.

33f We impose these commandments on ourselves: to give a third of a shekel each year for the service of the house of our God, 34for the showbread, the daily grain offering, the daily burnt offering, for the sabbaths, new moons, and festivals, for the holy offerings and sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, for every service of the house of our God. 35g We, priests, Levites, and people, have determined by lot concerning the procurement of wood: it is to be brought to the house of our God by each of our ancestral houses at stated times each year, to be burnt on the altar of the LORD, our God, as the law prescribes. 36h We have agreed to bring each year to the house of the LORD the first fruits of our fields and of our fruit trees, of every kind; 37also, as is prescribed in the law, to bring to the house of our God, to the priests who serve in the house of our God, the firstborn of our children and our animals, including the firstborn of our flocks and herds. 38i The first batch of our dough, and our offerings of the fruit of every tree, of wine and oil, we will bring to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God. The tithe of our fields we will bring to the Levites; they, the Levites, shall take the tithe in all the cities of our service. 39An Aaronite priest shall be with the Levites when they take the tithe, and the Levites shall bring the tithe of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers of the treasury. 40For to these chambers the Israelites and Levites bring the offerings of grain, wine, and oil; there also are housed the vessels of the sanctuary, and the ministering priests, the gatekeepers, and the singers. We will not neglect the house of our God.

* [10:139] This section belongs to the Nehemiah narrative rather than to that of Ezra. It is best read after Neh 13:31, since the stipulations of the pact seem to presuppose Nehemiah’s measures recorded in Neh 13. In view of all this: considering the situation described in Neh 13:431.

a. [10:3] Neh 12:17, 1226.

b. [10:11] Ezr 10:23.

c. [10:30] Neh 13:2327.

d. [10:31] Dt 7:24; Ezr 9:2, 12; Neh 13:1522.

e. [10:32] Neh 5:113; 13:1522; Ex 20:8; Lv 25:27.

f. [10:33] Lv 24:59; 2 Chr 24:6, 910.

g. [10:35] Neh 13:31.

h. [10:36] Ex 13:1, 1116; Dt 26:1.

i. [10:38] Neh 13:1014; Nm 18:2132.

III. DEDICATION OF THE WALL; OTHER REFORMS

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