Ezra 7:10

7:10 Now Ezra had dedicated himself ¹  to the study of the law of the Lord, to its observance, and to teaching ²  its statutes and judgments in Israel.

Ezra 7:2

7:2 who was the son of Shallum, who was the son of Zadok, who was the son of Ahitub,

Ezra 1:7-9

1:7 Then King Cyrus brought out the vessels of the Lord’s temple which Nebuchadnezzar had brought from Jerusalem and had displayed ³  in the temple of his gods. 1:8 King Cyrus of Persia entrusted ⁴  them to ⁵  Mithredath ⁶  the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar ⁷  the leader of the Judahite exiles. ⁸ 

1:9 The inventory ⁹  of these items was as follows:

30 gold basins, ¹⁰ 

1,000 silver basins,

29 silver utensils, ¹¹ 

Nehemiah 8:1-3

8:1 all the people gathered together ¹²  in the plaza which was in front of the Water Gate. They asked ¹³  Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the LORD had commanded Israel. 8:2 So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly which included men and women and all those able to understand what they heard. (This happened on the first day of the seventh month.) 8:3 So he read it before the plaza in front of the Water Gate from dawn till noon ¹⁴  before the men and women and those children who could understand. ¹⁵  All the people were eager to hear ¹⁶  the book of the law.

Nehemiah 8:7-8

8:7 Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah – all of whom were Levites ¹⁷  – were teaching the people the law, as the people remained standing. 8:8 They read from the book of God’s law, explaining it ¹⁸  and imparting insight. Thus the people ¹⁹  gained understanding from what was read.

Nehemiah 9:3

9:3 For one-fourth of the day they stood in their place and read from the book of the law of the LORD their God, and for another fourth they were confessing their sins ²⁰  and worshiping the LORD their God.

Nehemiah 13:1-3

Further Reforms by Nehemiah

13:1 On that day the book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing ²¹  of the people. They found ²²  written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite may ever enter the assembly of God, 13:2 for they had not met the Israelites with food ²³  and water, but instead had hired Balaam to curse them. (Our God, however, turned the curse into blessing.) 13:3 When they heard the law, they removed from Israel all who were of mixed ancestry.

Malachi 2:7

2:7 For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge of sacred things, and people should seek instruction from him ²⁴  because he is the messenger of the Lord who rules over all.

Matthew 13:52

13:52 Then he said to them, “Therefore every expert in the law ²⁵  who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his treasure what is new and old.”

Matthew 23:2-3

23:2 “The ²⁶  experts in the law ²⁷  and the Pharisees ²⁸  sit on Moses’ seat. 23:3 Therefore pay attention to what they tell you and do it. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they teach. ²⁹ 

Mark 6:34

6:34 As Jesus ³⁰  came ashore ³¹  he saw the large crowd and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So ³²  he taught them many things.

Romans 10:14-17

10:14 How are they to call on one they have not believed in? And how are they to believe in one they have not heard of? And how are they to hear without someone preaching to them ³³ ? 10:15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How timely ³⁴  is the arrival ³⁵  of those who proclaim the good news.” ³⁶  10:16 But not all have obeyed the good news, for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” ³⁷  10:17 Consequently faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word ³⁸  of Christ. ³⁹ 

[7:10]  ¹ tn Heb “established his heart.”

[7:10]  ² tn Heb “to do and to teach.” The expression may be a hendiadys, in which case it would have the sense of “effectively teaching.”

[1:7]  ³ tn Heb “and he gave them.”

[1:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “brought them forth.”

[1:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “upon the hand of.”

[1:8]  ⁶ sn A Persian name meaning “gift of Mithras.” See HALOT 656 s.v. מִתְרְדָת.

[1:8]  ⁷ sn A Babylonian name with the probable meaning “Shamash protect the father.” See HALOT 1664-65 s.v. שֵׁשְׁבַּצַּר.

[1:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “Sheshbazzar the prince to Judah”; TEV, CEV “the governor of Judah.”

[1:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “these are their number.”

[1:9]  ¹⁰ tn The exact meaning of the Hebrew noun אֲגַרְטָל (’agartal, which occurs twice in this verse) is somewhat uncertain. The lexicons suggest that it is related to a common Semitic root (the Hebrew derivative has a prosthetic prefixed א [aleph] and interchange between ג [gimel] and ק [kof]): Judean Aramaic and Syriac qartalla, Arabic qirtallat, Ethiopic qartalo, all meaning “basket” (BDB 173-74 s.v.; HALOT 11 s.v.). There is debate whether this is a loanword from Greek κάρταλλος (kartallo", “basket”), Persian hirtal (“leather bag”) or Hittite kurtal (“container”). The term is traditionally understood as a kind of vessel, such as “basket, basin” (BDB 173-74 s.v.; HALOT 11 s.v.); but some suggest “leather bag” or a basket-shaped container of some sort (P. Humbert, “En marge du dictionnaire hébraïque,” ZAW 62 [1950]: 199-207; DCH 1:118 s.v.). The LXX translated it as ψυκτήρ (yukthr, “metal bowl”). The precise meaning depends on whether the nouns כֶּסֶף (kesef, “silver”) and זָהָב (zahav, “gold”), which follow each use of this plural construct noun, are genitives of content (“containers full of silver” and “containers full of gold”) or genitives of material (“silver containers” and “gold containers” = containers made from silver and gold). If they are genitives of content, the term probably means “baskets” or “leather bags” (filled with silver and gold); however, if they are genitives of material, the term would mean “basins” (made of silver and gold). Elsewhere in Ezra 1, the nouns כֶּסֶף (“silver”) and זָהָב (“gold”) are used as genitives or material, not genitives of contents; therefore, the translation “gold basins” and “silver basins” is preferred.

[1:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “knives.” The Hebrew noun מַחֲלָפִים (makhalafim, “knives”) is found only here in the OT. While the basic meaning of the term is fairly clear, what it refers to here is unclear. The verb II חָלַף (khalaf) means “to pass through” (BDB 322 s.v. חָלַף) or “to cut through” (HALOT 321 s.v. II חלף; see also Judg 5:26; Job 20:24); thus, the lexicons suggest מַחֲלָפִים means “knives” (BDB 322 s.v. מַחֲלָף; HALOT 569 s.v. *מַחֲלָף). The related noun חֲלָפוֹת (khalafot, “knife”) is used in Mishnaic Hebrew (HALOT 321 s.v. II חלף), and חֲלִיפוֹת (khalifot, “knives”) appears in the Talmud. The noun appears in the cognate languages: Ugaritic khlpnm (“knives”; UT 19) and Syriac khalofta (“shearing knife”; HALOT 321 s.v. II חלף). The Vulgate translated it as “knives,” while the LXX understood it as referring to replacement pieces for the offering basins. The English translations render it variously; some following the Vulgate and others adopting the approach of the LXX: “knives” (KJV, NKJV, NRSV), “censers” (RSV), “duplicates” (NASV), “silver pans” (NIV), “bowls” (TEV), “other dishes” (CEV). Verse 11 lists these twenty-nine objects among the “gold and silver vessels” brought back to Jerusalem for temple worship. The translation above offers the intentionally ambiguous “silver utensils” (the term מַחֲלָפִים [“knives”] would hardly refer to “gold” items, but could refer to “silver items”).

[8:1]  ¹² tn Heb “like one man.”

[8:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “said [to].”

[8:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “from the light till the noon of the day.”

[8:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “all who could hear with understanding.” The word “children” is understood to be implied here by a number of English versions (e.g., NAB, TEV, NLT).

[8:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the ears of all the people were toward.”

[8:7]  ¹⁷ tc The MT reads “and the Levites.” The conjunction (“and”) should be deleted, following the LXX, Aquila, and the Vulgate. That the vav (ו) of the MT is the vav explicativum (“even the Levites”) is unlikely here.

[8:8]  ¹⁸ tn The exact meaning of the pual participle מְפֹרָשׁ (mÿforash) 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 (cf. KJV, ASV). 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 מְפֹרָשׁ adopted above (i.e., “explaining it”) understands the word to have in mind an explanatory function (cf. NAB, NCV, TEV, NLT) rather than one of translation.

[8:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “confessing.” The words “their sins” are not present in the Hebrew text of v. 3, but are clearly implied here because they are explicitly stated in v. 2.

[13:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “ears.”

[13:1]  ²² tn Heb “it was found.” The Hebrew verb is passive.

[13:2]  ²³ tn Heb “bread.” The Hebrew term is generic here, however, referring to more than bread alone.

[2:7]  ²⁴ tn Heb “from his mouth” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[13:52]  ²⁵ tn Or “every scribe.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4. It is possible that the term translated “expert in the law” (traditionally, “scribe”) here is a self-description used by the author, Matthew, to represent his role in conveying the traditions about Jesus to his intended audience. See David E. Orton, The Understanding Scribe [JSNTSup].

[23:2]  ²⁶ tn Grk “saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[23:2]  ²⁷ tn Or “The scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:2]  ²⁸ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

[23:3]  ²⁹ tn Grk “for they say and do not do.”

[6:34]  ³⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:34]  ³¹ tn Grk “came out [of the boat],” with the reference to the boat understood.

[6:34]  ³² tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “So” to indicate this action is the result of Jesus’ compassion on the crowd in the narrative.

[10:14]  ³³ tn Grk “preaching”; the words “to them” are supplied for clarification.

[10:15]  ³⁴ tn The word in this context seems to mean “coming at the right or opportune time” (see BDAG 1103 s.v. ὡραῖος 1); it may also mean “beautiful, attractive, welcome.”

[10:15]  ³⁵ tn Grk “the feet.” The metaphorical nuance of “beautiful feet” is that such represent timely news.

[10:15]  ³⁶ sn A quotation from Isa 52:7; Nah 1:15.

[10:16]  ³⁷ sn A quotation from Isa 53:1.

[10:17]  ³⁸ tn The Greek term here is ῥῆμα (rJhma), which often (but not exclusively) focuses on the spoken word.

[10:17]  ³⁹ tc Most mss (א¹ A D¹ Ψ 33 1881 Ï sy) have θεοῦ (qeou) here rather than Χριστοῦ (Cristou; found in Ì^46vid א* B C D* 6 81 629 1506 1739 pc lat co). External evidence strongly favors the reading “Christ” here. Internal evidence is also on its side, for the expression ῥῆμα Χριστοῦ (rJhma Cristou) occurs nowhere else in the NT; thus scribes would be prone to change it to a known expression.