Nehemiah 10:26-36

26 Ahijah, Hanan, Anan,
27 Malluch, Harim, Baanah;
28 and others of the people, priests, deacons, porters, and singers, Nethinims, and all men that separated themselves from the peoples of (the) lands to the law of God, the wives of them, the sons of them, and the daughters of them; all that might understand, (and the others of the people/and so all the people, yea, the priests, the Levites, the guards, or the doorkeepers, the singers, and the Temple workers, with their wives, and their sons, and their daughters; yea, all who could understand, and have separated themselves from the people of the lands, in obedience to the Law of God,)
29 promising for their brethren, the principal men of them, and they that came thither to promise, and to swear, that they should go in the law of the Lord, which he gave by the hand of Moses, his servant, and that they should do and keep all the behests of the Lord our God, and his dooms, and his ceremonies; (promise with their kinsmen, yea, their leaders, and swear, to go in the Law of the Lord, which he gave by the hand of his servant Moses, and to keep and to obey all the commandments of the Lord our God, and his judgements, and his statutes;)
30 and that we should not give our daughters to the people of the land, and that we should not take their daughters to our sons. (and that we shall not give our daughters to be wives for the peoples of the land, and that we shall not take their daughters as wives for our sons.)
31 Also the peoples of the land, that bring in things set to sale, and all things to use, by the day of sabbath, for to sell, we shall not take of them in the sabbath, and in a day hallowed; and we shall leave (the land) without tilth and sowing and gathering, the seventh year, and the asking of all hand, that is, (to) release debts, and (to) deliver (our) Hebrew servants. (And if the peoples of the land bring in food, and things to sell, on the Sabbath day, we shall not buy anything from them on the Sabbath, or on any other holy day. And in the seventh year, we shall leave the land without tilth, or sowing, or gathering, and we shall leave off asking for repayment of all manner of debt, that is, we shall discharge all debts, and also set free our Hebrew slaves.)
32 And also we shall ordain upon us commandments, that by each year we give the third part of a shekel to the work of the Lord our God, (And we shall ordain the command upon us, that each year we give the third part of a shekel to the work of the Lord our God,)
33 to the loaves of setting forth, and to the everlasting sacrifice, and into burnt sacrifice everlasting, in sabbaths, in calends, that is, (the) beginnings of months, in solemnities, in hallowed days, and for sin, that prayer be made for Israel, and into all the uses of the house of our God. (for the loaves of setting forth, that is, the loaves of proposition, and the everlasting offering, and the everlasting burnt sacrifice, for the Sabbaths, and the calends, that is, the beginning of months, and the Feasts, or the Festivals, and the holy gifts, and the sin offerings, to make amends for Israel, and for all the needs in the House of our God.)
34 Also we casted lots on the offering of wood, betwixt priests and deacons and the people, that those should be brought into the house of our God, by the families of our fathers in certain times, from the times of a year sufficient unto a year, that that wood should burn upon the altar of the Lord our God, as it is written in the law of Moses; (And we, the priests, and the Levites, and the people, have thrown lots for the wood offering, so that it can be brought into the House of our God, by the families of our fathers, each in their turn, at certain times year after year, to burn on the altar of the Lord our God, as it is written in the Law;)
35 and that we bring the first engendered things of our land, and the first fruits of all fruit of each tree, from year into year, into the house of the Lord, (and we shall bring the first fruits of our land, and the first fruits of every fruit tree, year after year, to the House of our God,)
36 and the first begotten things of our sons, and of our beasts, as it is written in the law, and the first begotten things of our oxen, and of our sheep, that those be offered in the house of our God, to priests that minister in the house of our God; (and also the first-born of our sons, and of our beasts, as it is written in the Law, yea, the first-born of our oxen, and of our sheep, we shall bring all these things to the House of our God, unto the priests who minister in the House of our God;)

Nehemiah 10:26-36 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.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.