CHAPTER 10

¹“With all this, we make a solemn commitment and write it down, sealed—our officers, our Levites, our priests. ²And on the sealed copies [the signatures of] Nehemiah the governor son of Hachaliah and Zedekiah, ³Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah. ⁴Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah, ⁵Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch, ⁶Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, ⁷Daniel, Gin nethon, Baruch, ⁸Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, ⁹Maaziah, Bilgai, Shemaiah. These are the priests. ¹⁰And the Levites—Jeshua son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, Kadmiel, ¹¹and their brothers Shebaniah, Hodijah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan, ¹²Micha, Rehob, Hashabiah, ¹³Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, ¹⁴Hodijah, Bani, Beninu. ¹⁵The heads of the people—Parosh, Pahath-Moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani, ¹⁶Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, ¹⁷Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin, ¹⁸Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur, ¹⁹Hodijah, Hashum, Bezai, ²⁰Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai, ²¹Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir, ²²Meshezabeel, Zadok, Jaddua, ²³Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah, ²⁴Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub, ²⁵Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek, ²⁶Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah, ²⁷and Ahijah, Hanan, Anan, ²⁸Malluch, Harim, Baanah.

²⁹“And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the choristers, the temple laborers, and all who separated themselves from the peoples of the lands according to God’s teaching, their wives, their sons and their daughters, whoever had conscious understanding, ³⁰holding fast with their brothers, their leaders and entering into the oath and the vow to walk in God’s teaching that was given by Moses servant of God and to keep and to do all the commands of the LORD our Master and His laws and His statutes. ³¹That is, we shall not give our daughters to the peoples of the land and their daughters shall not take our sons. ³²And as to the peoples of the land bringing wares and provisions on the sabbath day to sell, we shall not take from them on the sabbath or on a holy day. And we shall leave off on the seventh year, and also every debt. ³³And we shall take upon ourselves commands, that we give a third of the shekel ³⁴for the service of the house of our God for the display bread and the perpetual grain offering and the perpetual burnt offering for the sabbaths, the new moons, the festivals, for consecrations and for offense offerings to atone for Israel, and for all the tasks of the house of our God. ³⁵And we have cast lots for the wood offering among the priests, the Levites, and the people to bring it at set times to the house of our God by our patriarchal houses year after year to burn on the altar of the LORD our God as it is written in the Teaching. ³⁶And the firstborn of our sons and of our beasts as it is written in the Teaching, and the firstborn of our cattle and our sheep, to bring to the house of our God to the priests ministering in the house of our God. ³⁷And the first part of our dough and our donations and the fruit of every tree, wine and oil, we shall bring to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God, and a tithe from our soil for the Levites, who are the Levites taking tithes in all the towns where we labor. ³⁸And a priest from the line of Aaron shall be with the Levites when the Levites take the tithes, and the Levites shall bring up a tenth of the tithe to the house of our God, to the chambers, to the treasury. ³⁹For to the chambers shall the Israelites and the Levites bring the donations of grain, wine, and oil. And it is there that are the vessels of the sanctum and the ministering priests and the gatekeepers and the choristers. And we shall not forsake the house of our God.”