join with their noble brothers and commit themselves with a sworn oath , to follow the law of God given through God’s servant Moses and to obey carefully all the commands, ordinances, and statutes of the Lord our Lord.
These are the heads of the province who stayed in Jerusalem (but in the villages of Judah each lived on his own property in their towns #– #the Israelites, priests, Levites, temple servants, and descendants of Solomon’s servants #– #