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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:
Nehemiah 10:29 · New King James Version
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;
  • BSB 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.
  • 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 36:27I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my ordinances, and do them.
  • Ps 119:106I have sworn, and have confirmed it, that I will obey your righteous ordinances.
  • John 15:14You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you.
  • Titus 2:11–14For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,
  • 2 Chr 34:31The king stood in his place, and made a covenant before Yahweh, to walk after Yahweh, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book.
  • 2 Kgs 23:3The king stood by the pillar, and made a covenant before Yahweh, to walk after Yahweh, and to keep his commandments, his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and all his soul, to confirm the words of this covenant that were written in this book; and all the people agreed to the covenant.
  • Rom 12:9Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good.
  • Neh 5:12–13Then they said, “We will restore them, and will require nothing of them. We will do so, even as you say.” Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they would do according to this promise.
  • Deut 33:4Moses commanded us a law, an inheritance for the assembly of Jacob.
  • Deut 5:1Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, “Hear, Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your ears today, that you may learn them, and observe to do them.”
  • Isa 14:1For Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land. The foreigner will join himself with them, and they will unite with the house of Jacob.
  • Mal 4:4“Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded to him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and ordinances.
  • Ps 105:45that they might keep his statutes, and observe his laws. Praise Yah!
  • Ps 8:1For the Chief Musician; on an instrument of Gath. A Psalm by David. Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth, who has set your glory above the heavens!
  • Acts 11:23who, when he had come, and had seen the grace of God, was glad. He exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they should remain near to the Lord.
  • Deut 5:32You shall observe to do therefore as Yahweh your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
  • 2 Chr 6:16“Now therefore, Yahweh, the God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father that which you have promised him, saying, ‘There shall not fail you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children take heed to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.’
  • Deut 29:12–14that you may enter into the covenant of Yahweh your God, and into his oath, which Yahweh your God makes with you today;
  • Neh 13:25I contended with them, and cursed them, and struck certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons, or for yourselves.
  • 2 Kgs 10:31But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of Yahweh, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He didn’t depart from the sins of Jeroboam, with which he made Israel to sin.
  • John 7:19Didn’t Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill me?”
  • Ps 8:9Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
  • John 1:17For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
  • Deut 27:15–26‘Cursed is the man who makes an engraved or molten image, an abomination to Yahweh, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ All the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’
  • Acts 17:34But certain men joined with him, and believed, among whom also was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
  • Jer 26:4You shall tell them, “Yahweh says: ‘If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you,
  • 2 Chr 15:13–14and that whoever would not seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.
  • Acts 23:12–15When it was day, some of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.
  • Acts 23:21Therefore don’t yield to them, for more than forty men lie in wait for him, who have bound themselves under a curse neither to eat nor to drink until they have killed him. Now they are ready, looking for the promise from you.”

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Nehemiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Nehemiah 10:29YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on NehemiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.