hereby join with their noble brothers and commit themselves with a sworn oath to follow the Law of God given through His servant Moses and to carefully obey all the commandments, ordinances, and statutes of the LORD our Lord.
Parallel translations
- WEB they joined with their brothers, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God’s law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of Yahweh our Lord, and his ordinances and his statutes;
- KJV They clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God’s law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, and his judgments and his statutes;
- NKJV these joined with their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes:
- NASB are joining with their kinsmen, their nobles, and are taking on themselves a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law, which was given through Moses, God’s servant, and to keep and to comply with all the commandments of God our Lord, and His ordinances and statutes;
- NLT joined their leaders and bound themselves with an oath. They swore a curse on themselves if they failed to obey the Law of God as issued by his servant Moses. They solemnly promised to carefully follow all the commands, regulations, and decrees of the Lord our Lord:
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The people bound themselves with an oath, even invoking a curse on themselves, to walk in the law of Moses and obey all the LORD's commands. It is a wholehearted, public recommitment to God's covenant.
Overview
The community formally renews its covenant, swearing to keep the law given through Moses. Entering 'into a curse' means accepting the law's penalties if they break faith, underscoring how seriously they took obedience. Yet such oaths also expose human inability to keep the law perfectly, pointing forward to Christ, who bore the covenant curse for his people (Galatians 3:13) and writes God's law on the heart (Jeremiah 31:33).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 29
- Ezek 36:27And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances.
- Ps 119:106I have sworn and confirmed that I will keep Your righteous judgments.
- John 15:14You are My friends if you do what I command you.
- Titus 2:11–14For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to everyone.
- 2 Chr 34:31So the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD to follow the LORD and to keep His commandments, decrees, and statutes with all his heart and all his soul, and to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book.
- 2 Kgs 23:3So the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD to follow the LORD and to keep His commandments, decrees, and statutes with all his heart and all his soul, and to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant.
- Rom 12:9Love must be sincere. Detest what is evil; cling to what is good.
- Neh 5:12–13“We will restore it,” they replied, “and will require nothing more from them. We will do as you say.” So I summoned the priests and required of the nobles and officials an oath that they would do what they had promised.
- Deut 33:4the law that Moses gave us, the possession of the assembly of Jacob.
- Deut 5:1Then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: Hear, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances that I declare in your hearing this day. Learn them and observe them carefully.
- Isa 14:1For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob; once again He will choose Israel and settle them in their own land. The foreigner will join them and unite with the house of Jacob.
- Mal 4:4“Remember the law of My servant Moses, the statutes and ordinances I commanded him for all Israel at Horeb.
- Ps 105:45that they might keep His statutes and obey His laws. Hallelujah!
- Ps 8:1For the choirmaster. According to Gittith. A Psalm of David. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens.
- Acts 11:23When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to abide in the Lord with all their hearts.
- Deut 5:32So be careful to do as the LORD your God has commanded you; you are not to turn aside to the right or to the left.
- 2 Chr 6:16Therefore now, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for Your servant, my father David, what You promised when You said: ‘You will never fail to have a man to sit before Me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants guard their way to walk in My law as you have walked before Me.’
- Deut 29:12–14so that you may enter into the covenant of the LORD your God, which He is making with you today, and into His oath,
- Neh 13:25I rebuked them and called down curses on them. I beat some of these men and pulled out their hair. Then I made them take an oath before God and said, “You must not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters as wives for your sons or for yourselves!
- 2 Kgs 10:31Yet Jehu was not careful to follow the instruction of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit.
- John 7:19Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps it. Why are you trying to kill Me?”
- Ps 8:9O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!
- John 1:17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
- Deut 27:15–26‘Cursed is the man who makes a carved idol or molten image—an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of a craftsman—and sets it up in secret.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
- Acts 17:34But some joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others who were with them.
- Jer 26:4And you are to tell them that this is what the LORD says: ‘If you do not listen to Me and walk in My law, which I have set before you,
- 2 Chr 15:13–14And whoever would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel, would be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman.
- Acts 23:12–15When daylight came, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul.
- Acts 23:21Do not let them persuade you, because more than forty men are waiting to ambush him. They have bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they have killed him; they are ready now, awaiting your consent.”
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Christ at the center
The rebuilt walls and renewed covenant community foreshadow the greater builder who gathers and secures a people for God, the one who declares 'I will build my church.'
How Nehemiah 10:29 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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