# Nehemiah 10.14

<!-- type: passage | created: 2026-10-13 | updated: 2026-10-13 -->

**Book:** [Nehemiah](/codex/nehemiah/) · NASB95

## Immediate context (±2 verses)

**ASV** ([ASV](/codex/asv/))
> 12. Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, 13. Hodiah, Bani, Beninu.
>
> **14. The chiefs of the people: Parosh, Pahath-moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani,**
>
> 15. Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, 16. Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin, (Nehemiah 10:12-16, ASV)

**WEB** ([WEB](/codex/web/))
> 12. Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, 13. Hodiah, Bani, and Beninu.
>
> **14. The chiefs of the people: Parosh, Pahathmoab, Elam, Zattu, Bani,**
>
> 15. Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, 16. Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin, (Nehemiah 10:12-16, WEB)

**KJV** ([KJV](/codex/kjv/))
> 12. Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, 13. Hodijah, Bani, Beninu.
>
> **14. The chief of the people; Parosh, Pahathmoab, Elam, Zatthu, Bani,**
>
> 15. Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, 16. Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin, (Nehemiah 10:12-16, KJV)

**YLT** ([YLT](/codex/ylt/))
> 12. Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, 13. Hodijah, Bani, Beninu.
>
> **14. Heads of the people: Parosh, Pahath-Moab, Elam, Zatthu, Bani,**
>
> 15. Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, 16. Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin, (Nehemiah 10:12-16, YLT)

## Setting

- **Speaker:** the narrator, listing "those that sealed" the covenant (Nehemiah 10:1)
- **Audience:** the readers; the covenant was made before God by the whole community (Nehemiah 9:38; 10:28-29)
- **Location:** Jerusalem
- **Time period:** the seventh month of the year the wall was finished (Nehemiah 6:15; 7:73), c. 445 BC

## Theological reading

After the priests (Nehemiah 10:1-8) and Levites (10:9-13) come "the chiefs of the people," beginning with Parosh, Pahath-moab, Elam, Zattu and Bani. These are family names from the register of the first return, where the children of Parosh, Pahath-moab, Elam, Zattu and Bani are counted (Ezra 2:3-10; compare Nehemiah 7:8-15). A family head sealed for his house, almost a century after his clan came back from Babylon.

The covenant they sealed is specific. They "entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God's law, which was given by Moses" (10:29). They pledged no intermarriage with the peoples of the land (10:30), no trading on the sabbath, the seventh-year release of land and debts (10:31), and support for the temple, ending "we will not forsake the house of our God" (10:39).

The list matters because the covenant is personal. These are named men who put their seal to particular obligations, and Nehemiah 13 later holds the community to the same points: the temple's support (13:10-11), the sabbath (13:15-22) and marriage (13:23-27).

## Key words

_Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word._

- [H7218 - rosh](/codex/h7218-rosh/), *rosh*, Strong's H7218

## Notes

_Your annotations._

## Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the **most literal English translations available** (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the **public domain in the United States**, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

- **[ASV](/codex/asv/)** (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
- **[WEB](/codex/web/)** (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
- **[KJV](/codex/kjv/)** (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
- **[YLT](/codex/ylt/)** (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See [Bibles](/codex/bibles/) for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.