2tc With many medieval Hebrew manuscripts and the ancient versions the translation reads יְשׁוּעַ (y˙shua’, “Jeshua”) rather than the reading וְיֵשׁוּעַ (v˙yeshua’, “and Jeshua”) of BHS.

3tn Heb “brothers” (also in v. 30).

4tn Heb “heads”; ASV “chiefs.”

5tn Heb “from the peoples of the lands.” Cf. vv. 30, 31.

6tn Heb “the nobles.”

7tn The expression “a curse and an oath” may be a hendiadys, meaning “an oath with penalties.”

8tn Heb “to walk in.”

9tn Heb “keep.” See the note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.

10tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

11tn Heb “take.”

12tn Heb “debt of every hand,” an idiom referring to the hand that holds legally binding contractual agreements.

13tn Heb “cause to stand on us.”

14tc The MT reads “to give upon us.” However, the term עָלֵינוּ (’alenu, “upon us”) should probably be deleted, following a few medieval Hebrew MSS, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Vulgate.

15tn Heb “house” (also in vv. 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39).

16tn Heb “the house of our fathers.”

17tn The words “we accept responsibility” are not included in the Hebrew text, but are inferred from v. 33 (so also in v. 37).

18tn Heb “a tithe of our land.”

19tn Heb “of our work.”

20tn Heb “And the priest the son of Aaron.”