Neemias 10

BLIVRE · Chapter 10/13

1E os que selaram foram: Neemias o governador, filho de Hacalias, e Zedequias,

2Seraías, Azarias, Jeremias,

3Pasur, Amarias, Malquias,

4Hatus, Sebanias, Maluque,

5Harim, Meremote, Obadias,

6Daniel, Ginetom, Baruque,

7Mesulão, Abias, Miamim,

8Maazias, Bilgai, Semaías: estes eram o sacerdotes.

9E os Levitas: Jesua filho de Azanias, Binui dos filhos de Henadade, Cadmiel;

10E seus irmãos Sebanias, Hodias, Quelita, Pelaías, Hanã;

11Mica, Reobe, Hasabias,

12Zacur, Serebias, Sebanias,

13Hodias, Bani, e Beninu.

14Os líderes do povo: Parós, Paate-Moabe, Elão, Zatu, Bani,

15Bani, Azgade, Bebai,

16Adonias, Bigvai, Adim,

17Ater, Ezequias, Azur,

18Hodias, Hasum, Besai,

19Harife, Anatote, Nebai,

20Magpias, Mesulão, Hezir,

21Mesezabel, Zadoque, Jadua,

22Pelatias, Hanã, Anaías,

23Oseias, Hananias, Hassube,

24Haoés, Pílea, Sobeque,

25Reum, Hasabna, Maaseias,

26Aías, Hanã, Anã,

27Maluque, Harim, e Baaná.

28E o resto do povo, os sacerdotes, os levitas, os porteiros, os cantores, os servos do templo, e todos os que se haviam se separado dos povos das terras para a lei de Deus, suas mulheres, seus filhos e suas filhas, e todo o que tinha compreensão [e] entendimento,

29Firmemente se juntaram a seus irmãos, os mais nobres dentre eles, e se comprometeram em um juramento sujeito a maldição, que andariam na lei de Deus, que foi dada por meio de Moisés, servo de Deus, e que guardariam e cumpririam todos os mandamentos do SENHOR nosso Senhor, e seus juízos e seus estatutos;

30E que não daríamos nossas filhas aos povos da região, nem tomaríamos suas filhas para nossos filhos.

31E que, se os povos da região trouxessem para vender mercadorias e comida no dia de sábado, nada tomaríamos deles no sábado, nem em dia santo; e deixaríamos livre o sétimo ano, inclusive toda e qualquer cobrança.

32Também pusemos preceitos sobre nós, impondo-nos a cada ano [dar] a terça parte de um siclo, para a obra da casa de nosso Deus;

33Para os pães da proposição, para a oferta contínua de alimentos, e para o holocausto contínuo, dos sábados, das novas luas, e das festas solenes, e para as coisas sagradas, e para os sacrifícios pelo pecado para reconciliar a Israel, e [para] toda a obra da casa de nosso Deus.

34Também lançamos as sortes entre os sacerdotes, os levitas, e o povo, acerca da oferta da lenha, que havia de se trazer à casa de nosso Deus, segundo as casas de nossos pais, em tempos determinados, a cada ano, para queimar sobre o altar do SENHOR nosso Deus, como está escrito na lei.

35E que a cada ano traríamos as primícias de nossa terra, e todos os primeiros frutos de toda árvore, para a casa de SENHOR;

36E também os primogênitos de nossos filhos e de nossas animais, como está escrito na lei; e que traríamos os primogênitos de nossas vacas e de nossas ovelhas à casa de nosso Deus, aos sacerdotes que ministram na casa de nosso Deus;

37E que traríamos as primícias de nossas massas, e nossas ofertas alçadas, e do fruto de toda árvore, do suco de uva e do azeite, aos sacerdotes, às câmaras da casa de nosso Deus, e os dízimos de nossa terra aos levitas; e que os levitas receberiam os dízimos em todas as cidades onde trabalhamos.

38E que um sacerdote, filho de Arão, estaria com os levitas, quando os levitas recebessem os dízimos; e que os levitas trariam o dízimo dos dízimos à casa de nosso Deus, às câmaras da casa do tesouro.

39Porque para aquelas câmaras os filhos de Israel, e os filhos de Levi, devem trazer a oferta de grão, de suco de uva, e de azeite; e ali estarão os vasos do santuário, como também os sacerdotes que ministram, os porteiros, e os cantores; e assim não abandonaríamos a casa de nosso Deus.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

The leaders of the people sign a formal document, committing to obey God's law: not to intermarry with idolatrous foreigners, to keep the Sabbath, and to financially support the temple and its services.

Explanation

After the emotional confession of the previous chapter, the people turn their repentance into a concrete, written commitment, signed by priests, Levites, and leaders representing the whole nation. The specific points chosen — intermarriage, Sabbath rest, and support for the temple — show areas where the people had historically failed repeatedly, making them priority targets for renewed attention. This kind of written, collectively signed covenant shows how serious spiritual decisions often need clear, measurable commitments, not just vague good intentions.

Fun facts

  • The commitment to contribute a third of a shekel annually for the temple is one of the earliest biblical examples of a fixed, collective system of financial support for the house of God, complementing the law of the tithe.
  • Keeping the Sabbath included even refusing to buy goods from foreign merchants on that day, showing how strict the community wanted to be after years of neglecting this law.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Neemias 10:1The chapter lists the names of those who sealed a formal document committing the people to follow the law, beginning with Nehemiah. Sealing a document with one's own name was an act of personal responsibility before a public commitment.
  2. Neemias 10:2The list of those who sealed the covenant continues with three more priestly names, part of a sequence of twenty-one priests in all.
  3. Neemias 10:3Three more priests sign the commitment, each name representing a family formally pledging to follow the law.
  4. Neemias 10:4The list of priests who sealed the covenant continues, each trio of names representing more families formally committed to the law.
  5. Neemias 10:5Three more priests sign, among them Meremoth, a name that had also appeared earlier in the rebuilding of the wall in chapter 3.
  6. Neemias 10:6The list continues, with no comment beyond the names themselves, each one representing an individual commitment to the covenant.
  7. Neemias 10:7Three more priests join the list of those who held to the commitment together with Nehemiah.
  8. Neemias 10:8The list of priests closes here, totaling twenty-one names in all, everyone formally committed to the covenant Nehemiah had proposed.
  9. Neemias 10:9Now begins the list of Levites who also signed the covenant, including names already familiar from the rebuilding of the wall, such as the family of Henadad.
  10. Neemias 10:10Five more Levites complete this part of the list of signers.
  11. Neemias 10:11The list of Levites continues, each name reinforcing the collective commitment made that day.
  12. Neemias 10:12Three more Levites sign, among them Sherebiah, who had already helped Ezra decades earlier transport the temple treasures.
  13. Neemias 10:13The list of Levites closes with three more names, wrapping up this second group of signers of the covenant.
  14. Neemias 10:14Now come the heads of the common people, identified by the names of the same families that had already appeared in the original list of returnees from exile.
  15. Neemias 10:15Three more leading families sign, names already familiar from the great census in chapter 7.
  16. Neemias 10:16The list of the people's leaders continues with three more historic families, repeating names that had already appeared at the return from exile.
  17. Neemias 10:17Three more family leaders sign the commitment, including Ater, linked to the name Hezekiah, as in earlier lists.
  18. Neemias 10:18The list of the people's leaders continues, each name representing a family committed to the covenant to follow God's law.
  19. Neemias 10:19Three more names join the list, including families connected to already familiar towns, such as Anathoth.
  20. Neemias 10:20The list of the people's leaders keeps advancing, each trio of names underscoring the scale of the commitment made together.
  21. Neemias 10:21Three more leaders sign, including a Zadok, a name common among both priestly and lay families of Israel.
  22. Neemias 10:22The list continues without interruption, each name representing one more family that formally committed itself that day.
  23. Neemias 10:23Three more heads of families sign the covenant, continuing this extensive list of individual commitments.
  24. Neemias 10:24The list of the people's leaders keeps advancing, each name reinforcing the broad reach of this collective commitment.
  25. Neemias 10:25Three more names join the list, drawing near the end of the roll of the people's leaders who sealed the covenant.
  26. Neemias 10:26The list continues near its end, with three more heads of families signing the commitment.
  27. Neemias 10:27The list of the people's leaders closes here, completing a total of forty-four leading families who signed the covenant, along with the priests and Levites.
  28. Neemias 10:28Besides the leaders already named, the rest of the people are also included in the covenant: priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, Nethinims, and anyone who had separated from the neighboring peoples to follow the law of God, including wives and children.
  29. Neemias 10:29After listing who signed, the text explains the content of the oath: everyone promised to follow the law of God given through Moses, under penalty of a curse should they break the commitment.
  30. Neemias 10:30Among the commitments made is not to give their children in marriage to the neighboring peoples, returning to the same issue that had already caused the crisis of mixed marriages in Ezra's time. Here it appears as a preventive promise, made before the problem could recur.
  31. Neemias 10:31Among the specific commitments is not to trade on the sabbath, even if foreign sellers offered goods, and to observe the seventh year, when debts were to be forgiven.
  32. Neemias 10:32The people commit to supporting the temple with a small annual fee and with tithes of grain, wine, and oil, ensuring that worship and the priests had a steady supply. It is essentially a community budget set up to keep the temple running.
  33. Neemias 10:33This annual tax covered specific temple expenses: the consecrated bread, the daily offerings, the sacrifices of the sabbaths and the feasts, a detailed list of exactly where the money was to go.
  34. Neemias 10:34They even cast lots among the families to decide who would be responsible for bringing wood to keep the altar fire burning on fixed dates throughout the year.
  35. Neemias 10:35The commitment included bringing the firstfruits of every harvest to the temple, an old practice of acknowledging that the land belonged to God.
  36. Neemias 10:36The firstborn, of both people and animals, were also part of this system of offerings, following instructions that went all the way back to the law of Moses.
  37. Neemias 10:37The tithe of agricultural produce was specifically set aside to support the Levites, who received no land of their own to farm as the other tribes of Israel did.
  38. Neemias 10:38There was even a system of double-checking: a priest accompanied the Levites as they collected the tithes, and the Levites in turn passed part of it back to the temple.
  39. Neemias 10:39The chapter ends with a summary of the whole purpose: making sure the temple was never abandoned or left without resources, something that genuinely concerned this post-exilic generation.

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