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 of Zechariah son of Amariah son of Shephatiah son of Mahalalel, of the clan of Periz, 5and Maaseiah son of Baruch son of Col-hozeh son of Hazaiah son of Adaiah son of Joiarib son of Zechariah son of the Shilohite. 6All the clan of Periz who were living in Jerusalem—468 valorous men.
7These are the Benjaminites: Sallu son of Meshullam son of Joed son of Pedaiah son of Kolaiah son of Maaseiah son of Ithiel son of Jesaiah. 8After him, Gabbai and Sallai—928.
9Joel son of Zichri was the official in charge of them, and Judah son of Hassenuah was the second-in-command of the city.
10Of the priests: Jedaiah son of Joiarib, Jachin, 11Seraiah son of Hilkiah son of Meshullam son of Zadok son of Meraioth son of Ahitub, chief officer of the House of God, 12and their brothers, who did the work of the House—822; and Adaiah son of Jeroham son of Pelaliah son of Amzi son of Zechariah son of Pashhur son of Malchijah, 13and his brothers, heads of clans—242; and Amashsai son of Azarel son of Ahzai son of Meshillemoth son of Immer, 14and their brothers, valorous warriors— 128. Zabdiel son of Haggedolim was the official in charge of them.
15Of the Levites: Shemaiah son of Hasshub son of Azrikam son of Hashabiah son of Bunni, 16and Shabbethai and Jozabad of the heads of the Levites were in charge of the external work of the House of God. 17Mattaniah son of Micha son of Zabdi son of Asaph was the head; at prayer, he would lead off with praise; and Bakbukiah, one of his brothers, was his second-in-command; and Abda son of Shammua son of Galal son of Jeduthun. 18All the Levites in the holy city—284.
19And the gatekeepers: Akkub, Talmon, and their brothers, who stood watch at the gates—172.
20And the rest of the Israelites, the priests, and the Levites in all the towns of Judah [lived] each on his estate.
21The temple servants lived on the Ophel; Ziha and Gishpa were in charge of the temple servants.
22The overseer of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi son of Bani son of Hashabiah son of Mattaniah son of Micha, of the Asaphite singers, over the work of the House of God. 23There was a royal order concerning them, a stipulation concerning the daily duties of the singers.
24Petahiah son of Meshezabel, of the sons of Zerah son of Judah, advised the king concerning all the affairs of the people.
25As concerns the villages with their fields: Some of the Judahites lived in Kiriath-arba and its outlying hamlets, in Dibon and its outlying hamlets, and in Jekabzeel and its villages; 26in Jeshua, in Moladah, and in Beth-pelet; 27in Hazar-shual, in Beer-sheba and its outlying hamlets; 28and in Ziklag and in Meconah and its outlying hamlets; 29in En-rimmon, in Zorah and in Jarmuth; 30Zanoah, Adullam, and their villages; Lachish and its fields; Azekah and its outlying hamlets. They settled from Beersheba to the Valley of Hinnom.
31The Benjaminites: from Geba, Michmash, Aija, and Bethel and its outlying hamlets; 32Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah, 33Hazor, Ramah,
