Magnetic susceptibilities of both reduced and oxidized ferredoxin from Clostridium pasteurianum were obtained in solution. Whereas the reduced form exhibits a Curie law behavior, the magnetic susceptibility of oxidized ferredoxin in fact increases with temperature and suggests extensive antiferromagnetic exchange coupling between the component iron atoms. Contact-shifted resonances are observed for both forms of ferredoxin that are attributed to the beta-CH(2) protons of the eight cysteine residues. A model based on these results is presented.