Nehemiah 8:13

13 The next day the heads of the clans, together with the priests and the Levites, went to Ezra to study the teachings of the Law.

Nehemiah 8:13 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 8:13

And on the second day were gathered together
The second day of the month, and of the new year, the day after the feast of blowing of trumpets, and after the law had been read and explained:

the chief of the fathers of all the people:
heads of tribes and families: the priests and the Levites; who, though they were instructors of others, needed to be taught themselves, of which they were sensible: and therefore came

unto Ezra the scribe, even to understand the words of the law;
some things in it, which, upon reading the day before, they observed had some difficulty in them, and which they did not clearly and thoroughly understand; and therefore applied to Ezra, a ready scribe in the law, for better information, and that they might be better able to teach the people; which was highly commendable in them.

Nehemiah 8:13 In-Context

11 The Levites went around calming the people and telling them not to be sad on such a holy day.
12 So all the people went home and ate and drank joyfully and shared what they had with others, because they understood what had been read to them.
13 The next day the heads of the clans, together with the priests and the Levites, went to Ezra to study the teachings of the Law.
14 They discovered that the Law, which the Lord gave through Moses, ordered the people of Israel to live in temporary shelters during the Festival of Shelters.
15 So they gave the following instructions and sent them all through Jerusalem and the other cities and towns: "Go out to the hills and get branches from pines, olives, myrtles, palms, and other trees to make shelters according to the instructions written in the Law."
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.