2 Tawarikh 15:12-13

15:12 They solemnly agreed ¹  to seek the Lord God of their ancestors ²  with their whole heart and being. 15:13 Anyone who would not seek the Lord God of Israel would be executed, whether they were young or old, ³  male or female.

2 Tawarikh 23:16

23:16 Jehoiada then drew up a covenant stipulating that he, all the people, and the king should be loyal to the Lord. ⁴ 

2 Tawarikh 34:30-32

34:30 The king went up to the Lord’s temple, accompanied by all the people of Judah, the residents of Jerusalem, the priests, and the Levites. All the people were there, from the oldest to the youngest. He read aloud all the words of the scroll of the covenant that had been discovered in the Lord’s temple. 34:31 The king stood by his pillar ⁵  and renewed ⁶  the covenant before the Lord, agreeing to follow ⁷  the Lord and to obey his commandments, laws, and rules with all his heart and being, ⁸  by carrying out the terms ⁹  of this covenant recorded on this scroll. 34:32 He made all who were in Jerusalem and Benjamin agree to it. ¹⁰  The residents of Jerusalem acted in accordance with the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors.

Ezra 10:3

10:3 Therefore let us enact ¹¹  a covenant with our God to send away all these women and their offspring, in keeping with your counsel, my lord, ¹²  and that of those who respect ¹³  the commandments of our God. And let it be done according to the law.

Nehemia 9:38--10:39

The People Pledge to be Faithful

9:38 (10:1) ¹⁴  “Because of all of this we are entering into a binding covenant ¹⁵  in written form; ¹⁶  our leaders, our Levites, and our priests have affixed their names ¹⁷  on the sealed document.”

10:1 On the sealed documents were the following names: ¹⁸ 

Nehemiah the governor, son of Hacaliah, along with Zedekiah,

10:2 Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah,

10:3 Pashhur, Amariah, Malkijah,

10:4 Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch,

10:5 Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah,

10:6 Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch,

10:7 Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin,

10:8 Maaziah, Bilgai, and Shemaiah. These were the priests.

10:9 The Levites were as follows:

Jeshua ¹⁹  son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, Kadmiel.

10:10 Their colleagues ²⁰  were as follows:

Shebaniah, Hodiah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan,

10:11 Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah,

10:12 Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah,

10:13 Hodiah, Bani, and Beninu.

10:14 The leaders ²¹  of the people were as follows:

Parosh, Pahath-Moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani,

10:15 Bunni, Azgad, Bebai,

10:16 Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin,

10:17 Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur,

10:18 Hodiah, Hashum, Bezai,

10:19 Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai,

10:20 Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir,

10:21 Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua,

10:22 Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah,

10:23 Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub,

10:24 Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek,

10:25 Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah,

10:26 Ahiah, Hanan, Anan,

10:27 Malluch, Harim, and Baanah.

10:28 “Now the rest of the people – the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple attendants, and all those who have separated themselves from the neighboring peoples ²²  because of the law of God, along with their wives, their sons, and their daughters, all of whom are able to understand – 10:29 hereby participate with their colleagues the town leaders ²³  and enter into a curse and an oath ²⁴  to adhere to ²⁵  the law of God which was given through Moses the servant of God, and to obey ²⁶  carefully all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, ²⁷  along with his ordinances and his statutes.

10:30 “We will not give our daughters in marriage to the neighboring peoples, and we will not take their daughters in marriage for our sons. 10:31 We will not buy ²⁸  on the Sabbath or on a holy day from the neighboring peoples who bring their wares and all kinds of grain to sell on the Sabbath day. We will let the fields lie fallow every seventh year, and we will cancel every loan. ²⁹  10:32 We accept responsibility for fulfilling ³⁰  the commands to give ³¹  one third of a shekel each year for the work of the temple ³²  of our God, 10:33 for the loaves of presentation and for the regular grain offerings and regular burnt offerings, for the Sabbaths, for the new moons, for the appointed meetings, for the holy offerings, for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the temple of our God.

10:34 “We – the priests, the Levites, and the people – have cast lots concerning the wood offerings, to bring them to the temple of our God according to our families ³³  at the designated times year by year to burn on the altar of the LORD our God, as is written in the law. 10:35 We also accept responsibility for ³⁴  bringing the first fruits of our land and the first fruits of every fruit tree year by year to the temple of the LORD. 10:36 We also accept responsibility, as is written in the law, for bringing the firstborn of our sons and our cattle and the firstborn of our herds and of our flocks to the temple of our God, to the priests who are ministering in the temple of our God. 10:37 We will also bring the first of our coarse meal, of our contributions, of the fruit of every tree, of new wine, and of olive oil to the priests at the storerooms of the temple of our God, along with a tenth of the produce ³⁵  of our land to the Levites, for the Levites are the ones who collect the tithes in all the cities where we work. ³⁶  10:38 A priest of Aaron’s line ³⁷  will be with the Levites when the Levites collect the tithes, and the Levites will bring up a tenth of the tithes to the temple of our God, to the storerooms of the treasury. 10:39 The Israelites and the Levites will bring the contribution of the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil to the storerooms where the utensils of the sanctuary are kept, and where the priests who minister stay, along with the gatekeepers and the singers. We will not neglect the temple of our God.”

Yeremia 34:15

34:15 Recently, however, you yourselves ³⁸  showed a change of heart and did what is pleasing to me. You granted your fellow countrymen their freedom and you made a covenant to that effect in my presence in the house that I have claimed for my own. ³⁹ 

Yeremia 34:18

34:18 I will punish those people who have violated their covenant with me. I will make them like the calf they cut in two and passed between its pieces. ⁴⁰  I will do so because they did not keep the terms of the covenant they made in my presence. ⁴¹ 

Yeremia 50:5

50:5 They will ask the way to Zion;

they will turn their faces toward it.

They will come ⁴²  and bind themselves to the Lord

in a lasting covenant that will never be forgotten. ⁴³ 

Yeremia 50:2

50:2 “Announce ⁴⁴  the news among the nations! Proclaim it!

Signal for people to pay attention! ⁴⁵ 

Declare the news! Do not hide it! Say:

‘Babylon will be captured.

Bel ⁴⁶  will be put to shame.

Marduk will be dismayed.

Babylon’s idols will be put to shame.

Her disgusting images ⁴⁷  will be dismayed. ⁴⁸ 

Kolose 1:5

1:5 Your faith and love have arisen ⁴⁹  from the hope laid up ⁵⁰  for you in heaven, which you have heard about in the message of truth, the gospel ⁵¹ 

[15:12]  ¹ tn Heb “entered into a covenant.”

[15:12]  ² tn Heb “fathers.”

[15:13]  ³ tn Heb “whether small or great.”

[23:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “and Jehoiada made a covenant between himself and [between] all the people and [between] the king, to become a people for the Lord.”

[34:31]  ⁵ tc This assumes an emendation to עַמּוּדוֹ (’ammudo), see 23:13. The MT reads “at his place.”

[34:31]  ⁶ tn Heb “cut,” that is, “made” or “agreed to.”

[34:31]  ⁷ tn Heb “walk after.”

[34:31]  ⁸ tn Or “soul.”

[34:31]  ⁹ tn Heb “words.”

[34:32]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and he caused to stand everyone who was found in Jerusalem and Benjamin.”

[10:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “cut.”

[10:3]  ¹² tn The MT vocalizes this word as a plural, which could be understood as a reference to God. But the context seems to suggest that a human lord is intended. The apparatus of BHS suggests repointing the word as a singular (“my lord”), but this is unnecessary. The plural (“my lords”) can be understood in an honorific sense even when a human being is in view. Most English versions regard this as a reference to Ezra, so the present translation supplies “your” before “counsel” to make this clear.

[10:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “who tremble at”; NAB, NIV “who fear.”

[9:38]  ¹⁴ sn Beginning with 9:38, the verse numbers through 10:39 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 9:38 ET = 10:1 HT, 10:1 ET = 10:2 HT, 10:2 ET = 10:3 HT, etc., through 10:39 ET = 10:40 HT. Beginning with 11:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.

[9:38]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “we are cutting.”

[9:38]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and writing.”

[9:38]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “our leaders, our Levites, and our priests on the sealed document.” The Hebrew text is elliptical here; the words “have affixed their names” are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons. Cf. v. 2.

[10:1]  ¹⁸ tn The words “were the following names” are not in the Hebrew text but have been supplied in the translation for clarity. Cf. vv. 9, 10, 14.

[10:9]  ¹⁹ tc With many medieval Hebrew manuscripts and the ancient versions the translation reads יְשׁוּעַ (yÿshua’, “Jeshua”) rather than the reading וְיֵשׁוּעַ (vÿyeshua’, “and Jeshua”) of BHS.

[10:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “brothers” (also in v. 30).

[10:14]  ²¹ tn Heb “heads”; ASV “chiefs.”

[10:28]  ²² tn Heb “from the peoples of the lands.” Cf. vv. 30, 31.

[10:29]  ²³ tn Heb “the nobles.”

[10:29]  ²⁴ tn The expression “a curse and an oath” may be a hendiadys, meaning “an oath with penalties.”

[10:29]  ²⁵ tn Heb “to walk in.”

[10:29]  ²⁶ tn Heb “keep.” See the note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.

[10:29]  ²⁷ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[10:31]  ²⁸ tn Heb “take.”

[10:31]  ²⁹ tn Heb “debt of every hand,” an idiom referring to the hand that holds legally binding contractual agreements.

[10:32]  ³⁰ tn Heb “cause to stand on us.”

[10:32]  ³¹ tc The MT reads “to give upon us.” However, the term עָלֵינוּ (’alenu, “upon us”) should probably be deleted, following a few medieval Hebrew MSS, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Vulgate.

[10:32]  ³² tn Heb “house” (also in vv. 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39).

[10:34]  ³³ tn Heb “the house of our fathers.”

[10:35]  ³⁴ tn The words “we accept responsibility” are not included in the Hebrew text, but are inferred from v. 33 (so also in v. 37).

[10:37]  ³⁵ tn Heb “a tithe of our land.”

[10:37]  ³⁶ tn Heb “of our work.”

[10:38]  ³⁷ tn Heb “And the priest the son of Aaron.”

[34:15]  ³⁸ tn The presence of the independent pronoun in the Hebrew text is intended to contrast their actions with those of their ancestors.

[34:15]  ³⁹ sn This refers to the temple. See Jer 7:10, 11, 14, 30 and see the translator’s note on 7:10 and the study note on 10:25 for the explanation of the idiom involved here.

[34:18]  ⁴⁰ sn See the study note on v. 8 for explanation and parallels.

[34:18]  ⁴¹ tn There is a little confusion in the syntax of this section because the noun “the calf” does not have any formal conjunction or preposition with it showing how it relates to the rest of the sentence. KJV treats it and the following words as though they were a temporal clause modifying “covenant which they made.” The majority of modern English versions and commentaries, however, understand it as a second accusative after the verb + object “I will make the men.” This fits under the category of what GKC 375 §118.r calls an accusative of comparison (compare usage in Isa 21:8; Zech 2:8). Stated baldly, “I will make the people…the calf,” it is, however, more forceful than the formal use of the noun + preposition כְּ just as metaphors are generally more forceful than similes. The whole verse is one long, complex sentence in Hebrew: “I will make the men who broke my covenant [referring to the Mosaic covenant containing the stipulation to free slaves after six years] [and] who did not keep the terms of the covenant which they made before me [referring to their agreement to free their slaves] [like] the calf which they cut in two and passed between its pieces.” The sentence has been broken down into shorter sentences in conformity with contemporary English style.

[50:5]  ⁴² tc The translation here assumes that the Hebrew בֹּאוּ (bo’u; a Qal imperative masculine plural) should be read בָּאוּ (ba’u; a Qal perfect third plural). This reading is presupposed by the Greek version of Aquila, the Latin version, and the Targum (see BHS note a, which mistakenly assumes that the form must be imperfect).

[50:5]  ⁴³ sn See Jer 32:40 and the study note there for the nature of this lasting agreement.

[50:2]  ⁴⁴ tn The verbs are masculine plural. Jeremiah is calling on other unnamed messengers to spread the news.

[50:2]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “Raise a signal flag.”

[50:2]  ⁴⁶ sn Bel was originally the name or title applied to the Sumerian storm god. During the height of Babylon’s power it became a title that was applied to Marduk who was Babylon’s chief deity. As a title it means “Lord.” Here it is a poetical parallel reference to Marduk mentioned in the next line.

[50:2]  ⁴⁷ tn The Hebrew word used here (גִּלּוּלִים, gillulim) is always used as a disdainful reference to idols. It is generally thought to have originally referred to “dung pellets” (cf. KBL 183 s.v. גִלּוּלִים). It is only one of several terms used in this way, such as “worthless things” (אַלִילִים, ’alilim), “vanities,” or “empty winds” (הֲבָלִים, havalim).

[50:2]  ⁴⁸ tn The verbs here are all in the tense that views the actions as though they were already done (the Hebrew prophetic perfect). The verbs in the next verse are a mixture of prophetic perfects and imperfects which announce future actions.

[50:2]  sn This refers to the fact that the idols that the Babylonians worshiped will not be able to protect them, but will instead be carried off into exile with the Babylonians themselves (cf. Isa 46:1-2).

[1:5]  ⁴⁹ tn Col 1:3-8 form one long sentence in the Greek text and have been divided at the end of v. 4 and v. 6 and within v. 6 for clarity, in keeping with the tendency in contemporary English toward shorter sentences. Thus the phrase “Your faith and love have arisen from the hope” is literally “because of the hope.” The perfect tense “have arisen” was chosen in the English to reflect the fact that the recipients of the letter had acquired this hope at conversion in the past, but that it still remains and motivates them to trust in Christ and to love one another.

[1:5]  ⁵⁰ tn BDAG 113 s.v. ἀπόκειμαι 2 renders ἀποκειμένην (apokeimenhn) with the expression “reserved” in this verse.

[1:5]  ⁵¹ tn The term “the gospel” (τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, tou euangeliou) is in apposition to “the word of truth” (τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἀληθείας, tw logw th" alhqeia") as indicated in the translation.