¹tn Heb “like one man.”
²tn Heb “said [to].”
³tn Heb “from the light till the noon of the day.”
⁴tn Heb “the ears of all the people were toward.”
⁵tn Heb “a tower of wood.”
⁶tn Heb “to the eyes.”
⁷tn Heb “it.”
⁸tc The MT reads “and the Levites.” The conjunction (“and”) should be deleted, following the LXX, Aquila, and the Vulgate. That the vav of the MT is the vav explicativum (“even the Levites”) is unlikely here.
⁹tn The exact meaning of the pual participle meporaš in this verse is uncertain. The basic sense of the Hebrew word seems to be “to make distinct.” The word may also have the sense of “to divide in parts,” “to interpret,” or “to translate.” The context of Neh 8:8 does not decisively clarify how the participle is to be understood here. It probably refers to the role of the Levites as those who explained or interpreted the portions of biblical text that had been publicly read on this occasion. A different option, however, is suggested by the translation distincte (“distinctly”) of the Vulgate. If the Hebrew word means “distinctly” here, it would imply that the readers paid particular attention to such things as word-grouping and pronunciation so as to be sure that the listeners had every opportunity to understand the message that was being read. Yet another view is found in the Talmud, which understands translation of the Hebrew text into Aramaic to be what is in view here. The following explanation of Neh 8:8 is found in b. Megillah 3a: “‘And they read in the book, in the law of God’: this indicates the [Hebrew] text; ‘with an interpretation’: this indicates the targum; ‘and they gave the sense’: this indicates the verse stops; ‘and caused them to understand the reading’: this indicates the accentuation, or, according to another version, the Masoretic notes.” However, this ancient rabbinic view that the origins of the Targum are found in Neh 8:8 is debatable. It is not clear that the practice of paraphrasing the Hebrew biblical text into Aramaic in order to accommodate the needs of those Jews who were not at home in the Hebrew language developed this early. The translation of meporaš adopted above (i.e., “explaining it”) understands the word to have in mind an explanatory function rather than one of translation.
¹⁰tn Heb “they”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
¹¹tc The unexpected reference to Nehemiah here has led some scholars to suspect that the phrase “Nehemiah the governor” is a later addition to the text and not original.
¹²tn Heb “the priest, the scribe.”
¹³tn Heb “the people.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy.
¹⁴tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is yn`d)a& (a&d{n`y).
¹⁵tn Heb “to send portions.”
¹⁶tn The Hebrew text does not include the phrase “with others” but it has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
¹⁷tn Heb “to make great joy.”
¹⁸tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.”
¹⁹tn Heb “by the hand of.”
²⁰tn Heb “a voice.”
²¹map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
²²tn The words “these things” are not in the Hebrew text but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
²³tn Heb “the house of God.”
²⁴tn Heb “And there was very great joy.”
²⁵tn Heb “He”; the referent (Ezra) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
²⁶tn Heb “the last day.”
²⁷tn Heb “on the eighth day an assembly.” The words “they held” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
²⁸tn Heb “according to the judgment.”