auto_stories
Chapter Summary
The leaders sealed a covenant. The people made an oath: "We will not marry foreigners. We will bring the offerings for the temple."
1And the signatories were: Nehemiah, the cupbearer, the son of Hacaliah, and Zedekiah, 2Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, 3Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah, 4Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch, 5Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, 6Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch, 7Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, 8Maaziah, Bilgai, Shemaiah; these were the priests. 9And the Levites were: Jeshua, the son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, Kadmiel, 10and their brothers, Shebaniah, Hodiah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan, 11Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah, 12Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, 13Hodiah, Bani, Beninu. 14The heads of the people were: Parosh, Pahath-moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani, 15Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, 16Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin, 17Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur, 18Hodiah, Hashum, Bezai, 19Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai, 20Magpiash, Meshullam, Hazir, 21Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua, 22Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah, 23Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub, 24Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek, 25Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah, 26Ahiah, Hanan, Anan, 27Malluch, Harim, Baanah.
28And the rest of the people were the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, and the singers, the temple servants, and all who had separated themselves, from the peoples of the lands, to the law of God, with their wives, their sons, and their daughters. 29All who were able to understand, pledged on behalf of their brothers, with their nobles, and they came forward to promise and to swear that they would walk in the law of God, which he had given to the hand of Moses, the servant of God, that they would do and keep all the commandments of the Lord our God, and his judgments and his ceremonies, 30and that we would not give our daughters to the people of the land, and that we would not accept their daughters for our sons, 31also that, if the people of the land carry in goods for sale or any useful things, so that they might sell them on the day of the Sabbath, that we would not buy them on the Sabbath, nor on a sanctified day, and that we would release the seventh year and the collection of debt from every hand. 32And we established precepts over ourselves, so that we would give one third part of a shekel each year for the work of the house of our God, 33for the bread of the presence, and for the continual sacrifice, and for a continual holocaust on the Sabbaths, on the new moons, on the solemnities, and for the holy things, and for the sin offering, so that atonement would be made for Israel, and for every use within the house of our God. 34Then we cast lots concerning the oblation of the wood among the priests, and the Levites, and the people, so that it would be carried into the house of our God, by the households of our fathers, at set times, from the times of one year to another, so that they might burn upon the altar of the Lord our God, just as it was written in the law of Moses, 35and so that we might bring in the first-fruits of our land, and the first-fruits of all the produce from every tree, from year to year, in the house of our Lord, 36and the firstborn of our sons, and of our cattle, just as it was written in the law, and the firstborn of our oxen and our sheep, so that they might be offered in the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God, 37and so that we might bring in the first-fruits of our foods, and of our libations, and the fruits of every tree, also of the vintage and of the oil, to the priests, to the storehouse of our God, with the tithes of our land for the Levites. The Levites also shall receive tithes from our works out of all the cities. 38Now the priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites in the tithes of the Levites, and the Levites shall offer a tenth part of their tithes in the house of our God, to the storeroom in the house of the treasury. 39For the sons of Israel and the sons of Levi shall carry to the storehouse the first-fruits of the grain, of the wine, and of the oil. And the sanctified vessels shall be there, and the priests, and the singing men, and the gatekeepers, and the ministers. And we shall not forsake the house of our God.