2 Chronicles 15:3

15:3 For a long time ¹  Israel had no true God, or priest to instruct them, or law.

2 Chronicles 17:9

17:9 They taught throughout Judah, taking with them the scroll of the law of the Lord. They traveled to all the cities of Judah and taught the people.

2 Chronicles 35:3

35:3 He told the Levites, who instructed all Israel about things consecrated to the Lord, “Place the holy ark in the temple which King Solomon son of David of Israel built. Don’t carry it on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel!

Deuteronomy 33:10

33:10 They will teach Jacob your ordinances

and Israel your law;

they will offer incense as a pleasant odor,

and a whole offering on your altar.

Ezra 7:10

7:10 Now Ezra had dedicated himself ²  to the study of the law of the Lord, to its observance, and to teaching ³  its statutes and judgments in Israel.

Ezra 7:25

7:25 “Now you, Ezra, in keeping with the wisdom of your God which you possess, ⁴  appoint judges ⁵  and court officials who can arbitrate cases on behalf of all the people who are in Trans-Euphrates who know the laws of your God. Those who do not know this law should be taught.

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 ⁶  – were teaching the people the law, as the people remained standing. 8:8 They read from the book of God’s law, explaining it ⁷  and imparting insight. Thus the people ⁸  gained understanding from what was read.

Nehemiah 8:18

8:18 Ezra ⁹  read in the book of the law of God day by day, from the first day to the last. ¹⁰  They observed the festival for seven days, and on the eighth day they held an assembly ¹¹  as was required. ¹² 

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 ¹³  and worshiping the LORD their God.

Nehemiah 9:2

9:2 Those truly of Israelite descent ¹⁴  separated from all the foreigners, ¹⁵  standing and confessing their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors. ¹⁶ 

Nehemiah 4:2

4:2 and in the presence of his colleagues ¹⁷  and the army of Samaria ¹⁸  he said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they be left to themselves? ¹⁹  Will they again offer sacrifice? Will they finish this in a day? Can they bring these burnt stones to life again from piles of dust?”

[15:3]  ¹ tn Heb “Many days.”

[7:10]  ² tn Heb “established his heart.”

[7:10]  ³ tn Heb “to do and to teach.” The expression may be a hendiadys, in which case it would have the sense of “effectively teaching.”

[7:25]  ⁴ tn Aram “in your hand.”

[7:25]  ⁵ tc For the MT reading שָׁפְטִין (shoftim, “judges”) the LXX uses the noun γραμματεῖς (grammatei", “scribes”).

[8:7]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “He”; the referent (Ezra) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the last day.”

[8:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “on the eighth day an assembly.” The words “they held” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[8:18]  ¹² tn Heb “according to the judgment.”

[9:3]  ¹³ 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.

[9:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the seed of Israel.”

[9:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “sons of a foreigner.”

[9:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 9, 16, 23, 32, 34, 36).

[4:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “brothers.”

[4:2]  ¹⁸ map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[4:2]  ¹⁹ tc The Hebrew text is difficult here. The present translation follows the MT, but the text may be corrupt. H. G. M. Williamson (Ezra, Nehemiah [WBC], 213-14) translates these words as “Will they commit their cause to God?” suggesting that MT לָהֶם (lahem, “to them”) should be emended to לֵאלֹהִים (lelohim, “to God”), a proposal also found in the apparatus of BHS. In his view later scribes altered the phrase out of theological motivations. J. Blenkinsopp’s translation is similar: “Are they going to leave it all to God?” (Ezra–Nehemiah [OTL], 242-44). However, a problem for this view is the absence of external evidence to support the proposed emendation. The sense of the MT reading may be the notion that the workers – if left to their own limited resources – could not possibly see such a demanding and expensive project through to completion. This interpretation understands the collocation עָזַב (’azav, “to leave”) plus לְ (lÿ, “to”) to mean “commit a matter to someone,” with the sense in this verse “Will they leave the building of the fortified walls to themselves?”