28 The rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the gatekeepers, and all the people who were prepared to dedicate themselves to obeying God rather than the customs of the former inhabitants of the land, their wives, their sons and their daughters, and everyone who was old enough to understand, 29 were joining with their brothers, their nobles, and were committing to a promise which also had a curse: to obey God’s instructions as given by God’s servant Mosheh, and to keep and to do all the commands of Yahweh our master, accepting his judgments and his statutes.

30 They committed to not giving their daughters to the other people groups in the land, and to not taking their daughters for their sons.[ref]

31 On the rest day or other holy day, we won’t buy goods or grain from the peoples of the land (even if they bring it to sell it to us), and we won’t plant or harvest, or reclaim debts, in the seventh year.[ref]

32 We will also pledge to each donate a week’s wages each year to support the temple functions[ref] 33 including the bread displayed in rows, the continual offering and the continual burnt offering, for the rest day offerings and the new moons, for the appointed times and for the holy things, for the sin offerings to cover over Israel’s guilt, and for all the operation of God’s residence.

34 Then we threw dice to choose from among the priests, the Levites, and the people to create the roster for bringing firewood to the temple as an offering to be used at the appointed times each year for burning on the altar of Yahweh our God as written in the scrolls.

35 Every year we will also bring the early produce from our soil and the first harvest from every fruit tree to Yahweh’s temple.[ref] 36 We will dedicate our eldest male sons at the temple, and bring the eldest offspring of our herds and our flocks to the priests who serve at God’s residence.[ref]

37 We will bring our offerings and the first of our flour, and the fruit of every tree, wine, and oil, for the priests, to the temple storerooms, and a tenth of our produce for the Levites.

The Levites will be the ones receiving a tenth of our cash income in all the towns where we work.[ref] 38 A priest who’s a descendant of Aharon must be with them when they collect the tenths, then the Levites must take a tenth of that to the temple to be placed in their treasury rooms.[ref] 39 The Israelis and the Levites must bring the offerings of grain, wine, and oil to the storerooms. There must also be utensils for the sanctuary and the priests, for the ones who are ministering and the gatekeepers, and for the singers.

We mustn’t neglect our God’s house.