Nehemiah 8:3-8

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.

8:4 Ezra the scribe stood on a towering wooden platform ⁴  constructed for this purpose. Standing near him on his right were Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Masseiah. On his left were Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam. 8:5 Ezra opened the book in plain view ⁵  of all the people, for he was elevated above all the people. When he opened the book, ⁶  all the people stood up. 8:6 Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people replied “Amen! Amen!” as they lifted their hands. Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.

8:7 Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah – all of whom were Levites ⁷  – were teaching the people the law, as the people remained standing. 8:8 They read from the book of God’s law, explaining it ⁸  and imparting insight. Thus the people ⁹  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 ¹⁰  and worshiping the LORD their God.

Deuteronomy 31:11-12

31:11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place he chooses, you must read this law before them ¹¹  within their hearing. 31:12 Gather the people – men, women, and children, as well as the resident foreigners in your villages – so they may hear and thus learn about and fear the Lord your God and carefully obey all the words of this law.

Deuteronomy 31:2

31:2 He said to them, “Today I am a hundred and twenty years old. I am no longer able to get about, ¹²  and the Lord has said to me, ‘You will not cross the Jordan.’

Deuteronomy 23:2

23:2 A person of illegitimate birth ¹³  may not enter the assembly of the Lord; to the tenth generation no one related to him may do so. ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 34:16

34:16 Carefully read the scroll of the Lord! ¹⁵ 

Not one of these creatures will be missing, ¹⁶ 

none will lack a mate. ¹⁷ 

For the Lord has issued the decree, ¹⁸ 

and his own spirit gathers them. ¹⁹ 

Luke 4:16-19

Rejection at Nazareth

4:16 Now ²⁰  Jesus ²¹  came to Nazareth, ²²  where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue ²³  on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. ²⁴  He ²⁵  stood up to read, ²⁶  4:17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He ²⁷  unrolled ²⁸  the scroll and found the place where it was written,

4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed ²⁹  me to proclaim good news ³⁰  to the poor. ³¹ 

He has sent me ³²  to proclaim release ³³  to the captives

and the regaining of sight ³⁴  to the blind,

to set free ³⁵  those who are oppressed, ³⁶ 

4:19 to proclaim the year ³⁷  of the Lord’s favor.” ³⁸ 

Luke 10:26

10:26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you understand it?” ³⁹ 

Acts 13:15

13:15 After the reading from the law and the prophets, ⁴⁰  the leaders of the synagogue ⁴¹  sent them a message, ⁴²  saying, “Brothers, ⁴³  if you have any message ⁴⁴  of exhortation ⁴⁵  for the people, speak it.” ⁴⁶ 

Acts 15:21

15:21 For Moses has had those who proclaim him in every town from ancient times, ⁴⁷  because he is read aloud ⁴⁸  in the synagogues ⁴⁹  every Sabbath.”

[8:3]  ¹ tn Heb “from the light till the noon of the day.”

[8:3]  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).

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

[8:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “a tower of wood.”

[8:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “to the eyes.”

[8:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “it”; the referent (the book) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:7]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:3]  ¹⁰ 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.

[31:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “before all Israel.”

[31:2]  ¹² tn Or “am no longer able to lead you” (NIV, NLT); Heb “am no longer able to go out and come in.”

[23:2]  ¹³ tn Or “a person born of an illegitimate marriage.”

[23:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “enter the assembly of the Lord.” The phrase “do so” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[34:16]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Seek from upon the scroll of the Lord and read.”

[34:16]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “one from these will not be missing.” הֵנָּה (hennah, “these”) is feminine plural in the Hebrew text. It may refer only to the birds mentioned in v. 15b or may include all of the creatures listed in vv. 14b-15 (all of which are identified with feminine nouns).

[34:16]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “each its mate they will not lack.”

[34:16]  ¹⁸ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “for a mouth, it has commanded.” The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a and a few medieval mss have פִּיהוּ (pihu, “his mouth [has commanded]”), while a few other medieval mss read פִּי יְהוָה (pi yÿhvah, “the mouth of the Lord [has commanded]”).

[34:16]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and his spirit, he gathers them.” The pronominal suffix (“them”) is feminine plural, referring to the birds mentioned in v. 15b or to all of the creatures listed in vv. 14b-15 (all of which are identified with feminine nouns).

[4:16]  ²⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[4:16]  ²¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:16]  ²² sn Nazareth was Jesus’ hometown (which is why he is known as Jesus of Nazareth) about 20 miles (30 km) southwest from Capernaum.

[4:16]  ²³ sn See the note on synagogues in 4:15.

[4:16]  ²⁴ tn Grk “according to his custom.”

[4:16]  ²⁵ tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[4:16]  ²⁶ sn In normative Judaism of the period, the OT scripture was read and discussed in the synagogue by the men who were present. See the Mishnah, m. Megillah 3-4; m. Berakhot 2. First came the law, then the prophets, then someone was asked to speak on the texts. Normally one stood up to read out of respect for the scriptures, and then sat down (v. 20) to expound them.

[4:17]  ²⁷ tn Grk “And unrolling the scroll he found.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style. Instead a new sentence has been started in the translation.

[4:17]  ²⁸ tn Grk “opening,” but a scroll of this period would have to be unrolled. The participle ἀναπτύξας (anaptuxa") has been translated as a finite verb due to the requirements of contemporary English style.

[4:18]  ²⁹ sn The phrase he has anointed me is an allusion back to Jesus’ baptism in Luke 3:21-22.

[4:18]  ³⁰ tn Grk “to evangelize,” “to preach the gospel.”

[4:18]  ³¹ sn The poor is a key term in Luke. It refers to the pious poor and indicates Jesus’ desire to reach out to those the world tends to forget or mistreat. It is like 1:52 in force and also will be echoed in 6:20 (also 1 Pet 2:11-25). Jesus is commissioned to do this.

[4:18]  ³² tc The majority of mss, especially the later Byzantines, include the phrase “to heal the brokenhearted” at this point (A Θ Ψ 0102 ˹ Ï). The phrase is lacking in several weighty mss (א B D L W Ξ Ë¹³ 33 579 700 892* pc lat sy^s co), including representatives from both the Alexandrian and Western texttypes. From the standpoint of external evidence, the omission of the phrase is more likely original. When internal evidence is considered, the shorter reading becomes almost certain. Scribes would be much more prone to add the phrase here to align the text with Isa 61:1, the source of the quotation, than to remove it from the original.

[4:18]  ³³ sn The release in view here is comprehensive, both at a physical level and a spiritual one, as the entire ministry of Jesus makes clear (Luke 1:77-79; 7:47; 24:47; Acts 2:38; 5:31; 10:43).

[4:18]  ³⁴ sn Again, as with the previous phrase, regaining of sight may well mean more than simply miraculously restoring physical sight, which itself pictures a deeper reality (Luke 1:77-79; 18:35-43).

[4:18]  ³⁵ sn The essence of Jesus’ messianic work is expressed in the phrase to set free. This line from Isa 58 says that Jesus will do what the nation had failed to do. It makes the proclamation messianic, not merely prophetic, because Jesus doesn’t just proclaim the message – he brings the deliverance. The word translated set free is the same Greek word (ἄφεσις, afesi") translated release earlier in the verse.

[4:18]  ³⁶ sn Again, as with the previous phrases, oppressed may well mean more than simply political or economic oppression, but a deeper reality of oppression by sin (Luke 1:77-79; 18:35-43).

[4:19]  ³⁷ sn The year of the Lord’s favor (Grk “the acceptable year of the Lord”) is a description of the year of Jubilee (Lev 25:10). The year of the total forgiveness of debt is now turned into a metaphor for salvation. Jesus had come to proclaim that God was ready to forgive sin totally.

[4:19]  ³⁸ sn A quotation from Isa 61:1-2a. Within the citation is a line from Isa 58:6, with its reference to setting the oppressed free.

[10:26]  ³⁹ tn Grk “How do you read?” The pronoun “it” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[13:15]  ⁴⁰ sn After the reading from the law and the prophets. In the 1st century Jewish synagogue, it was customary after the reading of the Torah (law) and prophets for men to give exhortation from the scriptures.

[13:15]  ⁴¹ tn Normally ἀρχισυνάγωγος (arcisunagwgo") refers to the “president of a synagogue” (so BDAG 139 s.v. and L&N 53.93). Since the term is plural here, however, and it would sound strange to the English reader to speak of “the presidents of the synagogue,” the alternative translation “leaders” is used. “Rulers” would also be acceptable, but does not convey quite the same idea.

[13:15]  ⁴² tn Grk “sent to them”; the word “message” is an understood direct object. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

[13:15]  ⁴³ tn Grk “Men brothers,” but this is both awkward and unnecessary in English.

[13:15]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “word.”

[13:15]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “encouragement.”

[13:15]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “give it.”

[15:21]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “from generations of old”; the translation “fr. ancient times” is given by BDAG 192 s.v. γενεά 3.b.

[15:21]  ⁴⁸ tn The translation “read aloud” is used to indicate the actual practice; translating as “read” could be misunderstood to mean private, silent reading.

[15:21]  ⁴⁹ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.