Nehemiah 8:3

8:3 So he read it before the plaza in front of the Water Gate from dawn till noon ¹  before the men and women and those children who could understand. ²  All the people were eager to hear ³  the book of the law.

John 7:46-49

7:46 The officers replied, “No one ever spoke like this man!” 7:47 Then the Pharisees answered, ⁴  “You haven’t been deceived too, have you? ⁵  7:48 None of the rulers ⁶  or the Pharisees have believed in him, have they? ⁷  7:49 But this rabble ⁸  who do not know the law are accursed!”

Acts 16:14

16:14 A ⁹  woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth ¹⁰  from the city of Thyatira, ¹¹  a God-fearing woman, listened to us. ¹²  The Lord opened her heart to respond ¹³  to what Paul was saying.

¹ tn Heb “from the light till the noon of the day.”

² 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).

³ tn Heb “the ears of all the people were toward.”

⁴ tn Grk “answered them.”

⁵ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “have you?”).

⁶ sn The chief priests and Pharisees (John 7:45) is a comprehensive term for the groups represented in the ruling council (the Sanhedrin) as in John 7:45; 18:3; Acts 5:22, 26. Likewise the term ruler here denotes a member of the Sanhedrin, the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews. Note the same word (“ruler”) is used to describe Nicodemus in John 3:1, and Nicodemus also speaks up in this episode (John 7:50).

⁷ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “have they?”).

⁸ tn Grk “crowd.” “Rabble” is a good translation here because the remark by the Pharisees is so derogatory.

⁹ tn Grk “And a.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

¹⁰ tn On the term translated “a dealer in purple cloth” see BDAG 855 s.v. πορφυρόπωλις.

¹¹ sn Thyatira was a city in the province of Lydia in Asia Minor.

¹² tn The words “to us” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

¹³ tn Although BDAG 880 s.v. προσέχω 2.b gives the meaning “pay attention to” here, this could be misunderstood by the modern English reader to mean merely listening intently. The following context, however, indicates that Lydia responded positively to Paul’s message, so the verb here was translated “to respond.”