Discovery BoxNehemiah 10:29-31 
Context10:29 hereby participate with their colleagues the town leaders 1 and enter into a curse and an oath 2 to adhere to 3 the law of God which was given through Moses the servant of God, and to obey 4 carefully all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, 5 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 6 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. 7
1 tn Heb “the nobles.”
2 tn The expression “a curse and an oath” may be a hendiadys, meaning “an oath with penalties.”
3 tn Heb “to walk in.”
4 tn Heb “keep.” See the note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.
5 tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
6 tn Heb “take.”
7 tn Heb “debt of every hand,” an idiom referring to the hand that holds legally binding contractual agreements.
