Nehemiah 8:7
in Nehemiah 8The Levites—Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah—instructed the people in the Law as they stood in their places.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place.
KJV
Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place.
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This verse in Nehemiah 8
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The names here (and in Neh 9:4, Neh 9:5; Neh 10:9) seem not to be the personal appellations of individuals, but rather designations of Levitical families, the descendants respectively of Jeshua, etc., who lived not later than the time of Zerubbabel Neh 7:43; Neh 12:8.
This site's exposition
caused the people to understand the law
on Nehemiah 8:7-8
The Levites move among the standing people, and 8:8 states the method in the sentence that occurs nowhere else in Scripture: they read distinctly, and GAVE THE SENSE, and caused them to understand the reading. The readings on what giving the sense meant are named: rabbinic tradition, dated to the Talmudic era, places the origin of the Aramaic Targum in this verse, translation for a people whose tongue had shifted in Babylon, while the bench reads exposition, explanation added to reading; both may be true at once and neither is settled here. Reading plus explanation to the assembly is the shape the synagogue service and the expository sermon descend from, a legacy the commentators draw and name as theirs.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening5 voices
Understand - As well the words, which being Hebrew, now needed to be translated into the Chaldee or Syriack language, now, the common language of that people, who together with their religion, had also in a great part lost their language; as also the meaning of them: they expounded the mind and will of God in what they read, and applied it to the peoples present condition.
Of these also there were thirteen priests, whose lips were to keep knowledge, Mal. ii. It is a great mercy to a people thus to be furnished with ministers that are apt to teach. Happy was Ezra in having such assistants as these, and happy were they in having such a guide as Ezra.
Priests and Levites must be taught first and then teach. The people's ready obedience to the word, in one particular instance, as soon as they were made sensible of their duty therein. It is probable that Ezra, after the wisdom of his God that was in his hand ( Ezra vii.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites,....
Note, [1.] It is requisite that those who hear the word should understand it, else it is to them but an empty sound of words, Matt. xxiv. 15 . [2.] It is therefore required of those who are teachers by office that they explain the word and give the sense of it.
How the passage was read
On Nehemiah 8:1-18On Nehemiah 8:1-18
The seventh month, rediscovered
Everything in this chapter happens on the calendar of Leviticus 23. Ezra reads the Law on “the first day of the seventh month”: that is the Day of Trumpets, kept today as Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, announced by the ram's-horn trumpet (shofar). Then the people find the command about booths and keep Tabernacles (Sukkot) for the first time “since the days of Joshua”: seven days living in leafy shelters, remembering the wilderness. Jewish families still build these booths every autumn: a hut in the yard or on the balcony, roofed with branches you can see the stars through, where meals are eaten all week.
The chapter also gives the day its enduring tone: “the joy of the LORD is your strength” was said on Rosh Hashanah, to a congregation weeping under the words of the Law and told instead to feast.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Sources: Leviticus 23:23–43 (the seventh month's appointments) · Mishnah Sukkah 1:1 (the booth's rules)
The words behind it
21 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְיֵשׁ֡וּעַ | veyeshua' | and Jeshua | H3442 → | 29 times |
| וּבָנִ֡י | uvani | and Bani | H1137 → | 16 times |
| וְשֵׁרֵ֥בְיָ֣ה׀ | veshereveyah | and Sherebiah | H8274 → | 8 times |
| יָמִ֡ין | yamin | Jamin | H3226 → | |
| עַקּ֡וּב | ʾakuv | Akkub | H6126 → | 8 times |
| שַׁבְּתַ֣י׀ | shabetai | Shabbethai | H7678 → | |
| הֽוֹדִיָּ֡ה | hodiyah | Hodiah | H1941 → | 5 times |
| מַעֲשֵׂיָ֡ה | maaseyah | Maaseiah | H4641 → | 23 times |
| קְלִיטָ֣א | kelita' | Kelita | H7042 → | |
| עֲזַרְיָה֩ | ʾazaryah | Azariah | H5838 → | 49 times |
| יוֹזָבָ֨ד | yozavad | Jozabad | H3107 → | |
| חָנָ֤ן | chanan | Hanan | H2605 → | 12 times |
| פְּלָאיָה֙ | pelayah | Pelaiah | H6411 → | |
| וְהַלְוִיִּ֔ם | vehalviyim | and the Levites | H3881 → | 291 times |
| מְבִינִ֥ים | mevinim | [were] causing to understand | H995 → | 170 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הָעָ֖ם | haam | the people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| לַתּוֹרָ֑ה | latorah | <to> the law | H8451 → | 219 times |
| וְהָעָ֖ם | vehaam | and the people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | [were] at | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| עָמְדָֽם׃ | ʾamedam | place their | H5977 → | 9 times |
וְיֵשׁ֡וּעַand Jeshua
veyeshua'H3442 →29 times
וּבָנִ֡יand Bani
uvaniH1137 →16 times
וְשֵׁרֵ֥בְיָ֣ה׀and Sherebiah
veshereveyahH8274 →8 times
יָמִ֡יןJamin
yaminH3226 →
עַקּ֡וּבAkkub
ʾakuvH6126 →8 times
שַׁבְּתַ֣י׀Shabbethai
shabetaiH7678 →
הֽוֹדִיָּ֡הHodiah
hodiyahH1941 →5 times
מַעֲשֵׂיָ֡הMaaseiah
maaseyahH4641 →23 times
קְלִיטָ֣אKelita
kelita'H7042 →
עֲזַרְיָה֩Azariah
ʾazaryahH5838 →49 times
יוֹזָבָ֨דJozabad
yozavadH3107 →
חָנָ֤ןHanan
chananH2605 →12 times
פְּלָאיָה֙Pelaiah
pelayahH6411 →
וְהַלְוִיִּ֔םand the Levites
vehalviyimH3881 →291 times
מְבִינִ֥ים[were] causing to understand
mevinimH995 →170 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הָעָ֖םthe people
haamH5971 →1873 times
לַתּוֹרָ֑ה<to> the law
latorahH8451 →219 times
וְהָעָ֖םand the people
vehaamH5971 →1873 times
עַל־[were] at
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
עָמְדָֽם׃place their
ʾamedamH5977 →9 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Malachi 2:7For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the LORD of Hosts.
it leads to
- 2 Timothy 2:24–25
And a servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, and forbearing.
- Leviticus 10:11
so that you may teach the Israelites all the statutes that the LORD has given them through Moses.”
- Deuteronomy 21:5
And the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to serve Him and pronounce blessings in His name and to give a ruling in every…
- 2 Corinthians 5:20
Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ: Be reconciled to God.
- John 13:20
Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever receives the one I send receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives the One who sent Me.”
- 2 Timothy 2:24–25
Through
Leviticus 10:11so that you may teach the Israelites all the statutes that the LORD has given them through Moses.”
it leads to
- Malachi 2:7
For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the LORD of Hosts.
- Matthew 28:20
and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
- Nehemiah 8:2
On the first day of the seventh month, Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men and women and all who could listen and understand.
- Malachi 2:7
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Nehemiah
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil, The Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and W. F. Adeney, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther (Expositor's Bible).