⁸ You found his heart faithful to you, and you made a covenant with him to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites and Girgashites.^(A) You have kept your promise^(B) because you are righteous.^(C)

²⁶ “But they were disobedient and rebelled against you; they turned their backs on your law.^(A) They killed^(B) your prophets,^(C) who had warned them in order to turn them back to you; they committed awful blasphemies.^(D)

³² “Now therefore, our God, the great God, mighty^(A) and awesome,^(B) who keeps his covenant of love,^(C) do not let all this hardship seem trifling in your eyes—the hardship^(D) that has come on us, on our kings and leaders, on our priests and prophets, on our ancestors and all your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today. ³³ In all that has happened to us, you have remained righteous;^(E) you have acted faithfully, while we acted wickedly.^{(F) 34} Our kings,^(G) our leaders, our priests and our ancestors^(H) did not follow your law; they did not pay attention to your commands or the statutes you warned them to keep. ³⁵ Even while they were in their kingdom, enjoying your great goodness^(I) to them in the spacious and fertile land you gave them, they did not serve you^(J) or turn from their evil ways.

³⁶ “But see, we are slaves^(K) today, slaves in the land you gave our ancestors so they could eat its fruit and the other good things it produces. ³⁷ Because of our sins, its abundant harvest goes to the kings you have placed over us. They rule over our bodies and our cattle as they please. We are in great distress.^(L)

²⁸ “The rest of the people—priests, Levites, gatekeepers, musicians, temple servants^(I) and all who separated themselves from the neighboring peoples^(J) for the sake of the Law of God, together with their wives and all their sons and daughters who are able to understand— ²⁹ all these now join their fellow Israelites the nobles, and bind themselves with a curse and an oath^(K) to follow the Law of God given through Moses the servant of God and to obey carefully all the commands, regulations and decrees of the Lord our Lord.

³⁰ “We promise not to give our daughters in marriage to the peoples around us or take their daughters for our sons.^(L)

³¹ “When the neighboring peoples bring merchandise or grain to sell on the Sabbath,^(M) we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on any holy day. Every seventh year we will forgo working the land^(N) and will cancel all debts.^(O)

³² “We assume the responsibility for carrying out the commands to give a third of a shekel^[b] each year for the service of the house of our God: ³³ for the bread set out on the table;^(P) for the regular grain offerings and burnt offerings; for the offerings on the Sabbaths, at the New Moon^(Q) feasts and at the appointed festivals; for the holy offerings; for sin offerings^[c] to make atonement for Israel; and for all the duties of the house of our God.^(R)

³⁴ “We—the priests, the Levites and the people—have cast lots^(S) to determine when each of our families is to bring to the house of our God at set times each year a contribution of wood^(T) to burn on the altar of the Lord our God, as it is written in the Law.

³⁵ “We also assume responsibility for bringing to the house of the Lord each year the firstfruits^(U) of our crops and of every fruit tree.^(V)

³⁶ “As it is also written in the Law, we will bring the firstborn^(W) of our sons and of our cattle, of our herds and of our flocks to the house of our God, to the priests ministering there.^(X)

³⁷ “Moreover, we will bring to the storerooms of the house of our God, to the priests, the first of our ground meal, of our grain offerings, of the fruit of all our trees and of our new wine and olive oil.^(Y) And we will bring a tithe^(Z) of our crops to the Levites,^(AA) for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in all the towns where we work.^{(AB) 38} A priest descended from Aaron is to accompany the Levites when they receive the tithes, and the Levites are to bring a tenth of the tithes^(AC) up to the house of our God, to the storerooms of the treasury. ³⁹ The people of Israel, including the Levites, are to bring their contributions of grain, new wine and olive oil to the storerooms, where the articles for the sanctuary and for the ministering priests, the gatekeepers and the musicians are also kept.

“We will not neglect the house of our God.”^(AD)