Discovery BoxNehemiah 10:28-32 
Context10:28 “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 1 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 2 and enter into a curse and an oath 3 to adhere to 4 the law of God which was given through Moses the servant of God, and to obey 5 carefully all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, 6 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 7 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. 8 10:32 We accept responsibility for fulfilling 9 the commands to give 10 one third of a shekel each year for the work of the temple 11 of our God,
1 tn Heb “from the peoples of the lands.” Cf. vv. 30, 31.
2 tn Heb “the nobles.”
3 tn The expression “a curse and an oath” may be a hendiadys, meaning “an oath with penalties.”
4 tn Heb “to walk in.”
5 tn Heb “keep.” See the note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.
6 tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
7 tn Heb “take.”
8 tn Heb “debt of every hand,” an idiom referring to the hand that holds legally binding contractual agreements.
9 tn Heb “cause to stand on us.”
10 tc The MT reads “to give upon us.” However, the term עָלֵינוּ (’alenu, “upon us”) should probably be deleted, following a few medieval Hebrew
11 tn Heb “house” (also in vv. 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39).
