Nehemiah 10:28-39

Obligations of the Document

28 Now ¹the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants and ²all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the law of God, their wives, their sons and their daughters, all those who had knowledge and understanding,

29 are joining with their kinsmen, their nobles, and are ³taking on themselves a curse and an oath to walk in God's law, which was given through Moses, God's servant, and to keep and to observe all the commandments of GOD our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes;

30 and ⁴that we will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons.

31 As ⁵for the peoples of the land who bring wares or any grain on the sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the sabbath or a holy day; and we will forego the crops the ⁶seventh year and the ⁷exaction of every debt.

32 We also placed ourselves under obligation to contribute yearly ⁸one third of a shekel for the service of the house of our God:

33 for the ⁹showbread *, for the continual grain offering, for the continual burnt offering, the sabbaths, the new moon, for the appointed times, for the holy things and for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and all the work of the house of our God.

34 Likewise ¹⁰we cast lots ¹¹for the supply of wood among the priests, the Levites and the people so that they might bring it to the house of our God, according to our fathers' households, at fixed times annually, to burn on the altar of the LORD our God, as it is written in the law;

35 and that they might bring the first fruits of our ground and ¹²the first fruits of all the fruit of every tree to the house of the LORD annually,

36 and ¹³bring to the house of our God the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, and the firstborn of our herds and our flocks as it is written in the law, for the priests who are ministering in the house of our God.

37 ¹⁴We will also bring the first of our dough, our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the new wine and the oil ¹⁵to the priests at the chambers of the house of our God, and the ¹⁶tithe of our ground to the Levites, for the Levites are they who receive the tithes in all the rural towns.

38 ¹⁷The priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive tithes, and the Levites shall bring up the tenth of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers of ¹⁸the storehouse.

39 For the sons of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the ¹⁹contribution of the grain, the new wine and the oil to the chambers; there are the utensils of the sanctuary, the priests who are ministering, the gatekeepers and the singers. Thus ²⁰we will not neglect the house of our God.

Nehemiah 10:28-39 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. Ezra 2:36-58
• 2. Nehemiah 9:2
• 3. Nehemiah 5:12
• 4. Exodus 34:16; Deuteronomy 7:3
• 5. Nehemiah 13:15-22
• 6. Exodus 23:10, 11; Leviticus 25:1-7
• 7. Deuteronomy 15:1, 2
• 8. Exodus 30:11-16; Matthew 17:24
• 9. Leviticus 24:5, 6; 2 Chronicles 2:4
• 10. Nehemiah 11:1
• 11. Nehemiah 13:31
• 12. Exodus 23:19; Exodus 34:26; Deuteronomy 26:2
• 13. Exodus 13:2
• 14. Leviticus 23:17
• 15. Nehemiah 13:5, 9
• 16. Leviticus 27:30; Numbers 18:21
• 17. Numbers 18:26
• 18. Nehemiah 13:12, 13
• 19. Deuteronomy 12:6
• 20. Nehemiah 13:10, 11

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "brothers"
• [b]. Lit "entering into a"
• [c]. Heb "YHWH," usually rendered LORD
• [d]. Lit "imposed commandments on us"
• [e]. Or "coarse meal"
• [f]. Lit "forsake"