Nehemiah 10:30-39

30 ¹We will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons.

31 ²And if the peoples of the land bring in goods or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on a holy day. And we will forego the crops of the ³seventh year and the ⁴exaction of every debt.

32 "We also take on ourselves the obligation to give yearly ⁵a third part of a shekel^[a] for the service of the house of our God:

33 ⁶for the showbread, ⁷the regular grain offering, ⁸the regular burnt offering, the Sabbaths, the new moons, the appointed feasts, the holy things, and the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God.

34 ⁹We, the priests, the Levites, and the people, have likewise cast lots ¹⁰for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God, according to our fathers' houses, at times appointed, year by year, to burn on the altar of the LORD our God, ¹¹as it is written in the Law.

35 We obligate ourselves ¹²to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of every tree, year by year, to the house of the LORD;

36 also to bring to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God, the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, ¹³as it is written in the Law, and the firstborn of our herds and of our flocks;

37 ¹⁴and to bring the first of our dough, and our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the wine and the oil, to the priests, ¹⁵to the chambers of the house of our God; and to bring to the Levites the tithes from our ground, for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in all our towns where we labor.

38 And the priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive the tithes. And the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers of ¹⁶the storehouse.

39 For the people of Israel and the sons of Levi ¹⁷shall bring the contribution of grain, wine, and oil to the chambers, where the vessels of the sanctuary are, as well as the priests who minister, and the gatekeepers and the singers. ¹⁸We will not neglect the house of our God."

Nehemiah 10:30-39 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NEHEMIAH 10

In this chapter we have the names of the persons that signed and sealed the covenant mentioned in the last chapter, Ne 10:1-27, and the things they agreed unto and promised to perform; in general to observe the law of God, in particular not to marry with the people of the land, to keep the sabbaths weekly and yearly, to pay annually the third part of the shekel for the service of the temple, to bring into it the wood offerings, first fruits, firstborn, and tithes, Ne 10:28-39.

Cross References

• 1. Exodus 34:16; Deuteronomy 7:3; Ezra 9:12, 14
• 2. Exodus 20:10; Leviticus 23:3; Deuteronomy 5:12; See Nehemiah 13:15-22
• 3. Exodus 23:10, 11; Leviticus 25:4
• 4. Deuteronomy 15:1, 2; [Nehemiah 5:12]
• 5. [Matthew 17:24]
• 6. 2 Chronicles 2:4; [1 Chronicles 9:32]; See Leviticus 24:5-9
• 7. See Numbers 28; Numbers 29
• 8. See Numbers 28; Numbers 29
• 9. [Nehemiah 11:1]
• 10. Nehemiah 13:31; [Isaiah 40:16]
• 11. Leviticus 6:12
• 12. Exodus 23:19; Exodus 34:26; Leviticus 19:23, 24; Numbers 18:12; Deuteronomy 26:2
• 13. Ex. 13:2, 12, 13; Leviticus 27:26, 27; Numbers 18:15, 16
• 14. Leviticus 23:17; Numbers 15:20, 21; Numbers 18:12; Deuteronomy 18:4
• 15. 1 Chronicles 9:26; 2 Chronicles 31:11
• 16. 1 Chronicles 26:20
• 17. [Nehemiah 13:12; Deuteronomy 12:6, 11; 2 Chronicles 31:12]
• 18. [Nehemiah 13:11]

Footnotes

• [a]. A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams