12`You led them by day with a pillar of cloud, and by night with a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way they were to go. 13You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke to them from heaven; You gave them right rules and true teachings, good laws and commandments. 14You made known to them Your holy sabbath, and You ordained for them laws, commandments and Teaching, through Moses Your servant. 15You gave them bread from heaven when they were hungry, and produced water from a rock when they were thirsty. You told them to go and possess the land that You swore to give them. 16But they—our fathers— acted presumptuously; they stiffened their necks and did not obey Your commandments. 17Refusing to obey, unmindful of Your wonders that You did for them, they stiffened their necks, and in their defiance resolved to return to their slavery. But You, being a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, long-suffering and abounding in faithfulness, did not abandon them. 18Even though they made themselves a molten calf and said,This is your God who brought you out of Egypt,’ thus committing great impieties, 19You, in Your abundant compassion, did not abandon them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud did not depart from them to lead them on the way by day, nor the pillar of fire by night to give them light in the way they were to go. 20You endowed them with Your good spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold Your manna from their mouth; You gave them water when they were thirsty. 21Forty years You sustained them in the wilderness so that they lacked nothing; their clothes did not wear out, and their feet did not swell.
22“You gave them kingdoms and peoples, and b-allotted them territory.-b They took possession of the land of Sihon, the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og, king of Bashan. 23You made their children as numerous as the stars of heaven, and brought them to the land which You told their fathers to go and possess. 24The sons came and took possession of the land: You subdued the Canaanite inhabitants of the land before them; You delivered them into their power, both their kings and the peoples of the land, to do with them as they pleased. 25They captured fortified cities and rich lands; they took possession of houses filled with every good thing, of hewn cisterns, vineyards, olive trees, and fruit trees in abundance. They ate, they were filled, they grew fat; they luxuriated in Your great bounty. 26Then, defying You, they rebelled; they cast Your Teaching behind their back. They killed Your prophets who admonished them to turn them back to You; they committed great impieties.
27“You delivered them into the power of their adversaries who oppressed them. In their time of trouble they cried to You; You in heaven heard them, and in Your abundant compassion gave them saviors who saved them from the power of their adversaries. 28But when they had relief, they again did what was evil in Your sight, so You abandoned them to the power of their enemies, who subjugated them. Again they cried to You, and You in heaven heard and rescued them in Your compassion, time after time. 29You admonished them in order to turn them back to Your Teaching, but they acted presumptuously and disobeyed Your commandments, and sinned against Your rules, by following which a man shall live. They turned a defiant shoulder, stiffened their neck, and would not obey. 30You bore with them for many years, admonished them by Your spirit through Your prophets, but they would not give ear, so You delivered them into the power of the peoples of the lands. 31Still, in Your great compassion You did not make an end of them or abandon them, for You are a gracious and compassionate God.
32“And now, our God, great, mighty, and awesome God, who stays faithful to His covenant, do not treat lightly all the suffering that has overtaken us—our kings, our officers, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all Your people—from the time of the Assyrian kings to this day. 33Surely You are in the right with respect to all that has come upon us, for You have acted faithfully, and we have been wicked. 34Our kings, officers, priests, and fathers did not follow Your Teaching, and did not listen to Your commandments or to the warnings that You gave them. 35When they had their own kings and enjoyed the good that You lavished upon them, and the broad and rich land that You put at their disposal, they would not serve You, and did not turn from their wicked deeds. 36Today we are slaves, and the land that You gave our fathers to enjoy its fruit and bounty—here we are slaves on it! 37On account of our sins it yields its abundant crops to kings whom You have set over us. They rule over our bodies and our beasts as they please, and we are in great distress.
10 In view of all this, we make this pledge and put it in writing; and on the sealed copy [are subscribed] our officials, our Levites, and our priests. 2On the sealed copya [are subscribed]: Nehemiah the Tirshatha son of Hacaliah and Zedekiah, 3Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, 4Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah, 5Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch, 6Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, 7Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch, 8Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, 9Maaziah, Bilgai, Shemaiah; these are the priests.
10“And the Levites: Jeshua son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, and Kadmiel. 11And their brothers: Shebaniah, Hodiah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan, 12Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah, 13Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, 14Hodiah, Bani, and Beninu.
15“The heads of the people: Parosh, Pahath-moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani, 16Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, 17Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin, 18Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur, 19Hodiah, Hashum, Bezai, 20Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai, 21Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir, 22Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua, 23Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah, 24Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub, 25Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek, 26Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah,27and Ahiah, Hanan, Anan, 28Malluch, Harim, Baanah.
29And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and all who separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to [follow] the Teaching of God, their wives, sons and daughters, all who know enough to understand, 30join with their noble brothers, and take an oath with sanctions to follow the Teaching of God, given through Moses the servant of God, and to observe carefully all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, His rules and laws. 31Namely: We will not give our daughters in marriage to the peoples of the land, or take their daughters for our sons.
32The peoples of the land who bring their wares and all sorts of food-stuff for sale on the sabbath day—we will not buy from them on the sabbath or a holy day. We will forgo [the produce of] the seventh year, and every outstanding debt.
33“We have laid upon ourselves obligations: To charge ourselves one-third of a shekel yearly for the service of the House of our God—34for the rows of bread, for the regular meal offering and for the regular burnt offering, [for those of the] sabbaths, new moons, festivals, for consecrations, for sin offerings to atone for Israel, and for all the work in the House of our God.
35“We have cast lots [among] the priests, the Levites, and the people, to bring the wood offering to the House of our God by clans annually at set times in order to provide fuel for the altar of the LORD our God, as is written in the Teaching.
36“And [we undertake] to bring to the House of the LORD annually the first fruits of our soil, and of every fruit of every tree; 37also, the first-born of our sons and our beasts, as is written in the Teaching; and to bring the firstlings of our cattle and flocks to the House of our God for the priests who minister in the House of our God.
38We will bring to the storerooms of the House of our God the first part of our dough, and our gifts [of grain], and of the fruit of every tree, wine and oil for the priests, and the tithes of our land for the Levites— the Levites who collect the tithe in all our towns b-subject to royal service.-b 39An Aaronite priest must be with the Levites when they collect the tithe, and the Levites must bring up a tithe of the tithe to the House of our God, to the storerooms of the treasury. 40For it is to the storerooms that the Israelites and the Levites must bring the gifts of grain, wine, and oil. The equipment of the sanctuary and of the ministering priests and the gatekeepers and the singers is also there. We will not neglect the House of our God.’’
11 The officers of the people settled in Jerusalem; the rest of the people cast lots for one out of ten to come and settle in the holy city of Jerusalem, and the other nine-tenths to stay in the towns. 2The people gave their blessing to all the men who willingly settled in Jerusalem.
3These are the heads of the province who lived in Jerusalem—in the countrysidea of Judah, the people lived in their towns, each on his own property, Israelites, priests, Levites, temple servants, and the sons of Solomon’s servants, 4while in Jerusalem some of the Judahites and some of the Benjaminites lived:
Of the Judahites: Athaiah son of Uzziah son
