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Nehemiah 8:8
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Nehemiah 8:8 Meaning and Commentary
So they read in the book
Ezra and those with him; he first began to read and expound, and when weary they relieved him, and did the same:
in the law of God distinctly;
which was the book they read in, and which they read plainly and intelligibly, so as to be heard and understood; this seems to respect the clear and distinct pronunciation of the words of it, and not the explanation or meaning of it, which is after expressed; some think the sense is, that they first read it in Hebrew, and then translated it into Chaldee, that the people might better understand it, being just come out of Babylon, where they had been used to the Chaldee language; but though this was a practice in later times, it does not seem to have obtained so early, or that there was a necessity of it:
and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading;
not hereby how to read it, but chiefly to understand what was read, that they might clearly know their duty to God and men: the Talmudists F17 give the meaning of the text thus; "by the law of God" they understand the Scripture; by the phrase "distinctly", the Targum or translation of it into Chaldee; by "the sense", the verses or the accents; and by "the reading", the distinction of the accents: some think from hence came the practice of reading the law in the synagogues every sabbath day, ( Acts 13:15 ) ( 15:21 ) .
F17 T. Bab. Nedarim, fol. 37. 2. & Megillah, fol. 3. 1. & Hieros. Megillah, fol. 74. 4.