Nehemia 9:38

The People Pledge to be Faithful

9:38 (10:1) ¹  “Because of all of this we are entering into a binding covenant ²  in written form; ³  our leaders, our Levites, and our priests have affixed their names ⁴  on the sealed document.”

Nehemia 10:29

10:29 hereby participate with their colleagues the town leaders ⁵  and enter into a curse and an oath ⁶  to adhere to ⁷  the law of God which was given through Moses the servant of God, and to obey ⁸  carefully all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, ⁹  along with his ordinances and his statutes.

[9:38]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “we are cutting.”

[9:38]  ³ tn Heb “and writing.”

[9:38]  ⁴ 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.

[10:29]  ⁵ tn Heb “the nobles.”

[10:29]  ⁶ tn The expression “a curse and an oath” may be a hendiadys, meaning “an oath with penalties.”

[10:29]  ⁷ tn Heb “to walk in.”

[10:29]  ⁸ tn Heb “keep.” See the note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.

[10:29]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).