Atlas Biblica

    Nehemiah · 18 verses

    Nehemiah 8

    Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.

    The chapter

    What happens here

    Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

    The morning begins with weeping and ends with rich food, sweet drink, shared portions, and great rejoicing; in between, Ezra reads from daybreak until noon while the whole assembly stands, listens, bows, builds booths, and somehow makes a festival of it all.

    The reading, and the reversalvv. 1–12

    All the people gather in the square before the Water Gate and ask Ezra to bring out the Book of the Law. He reads from daybreak until noon, standing on a high wooden platform with a small crowd of named men arranged on either side of him. When Ezra opens the book, the people stand; when he blesses the LORD, they answer, bow, and worship. The Levites explain the reading, but the people weep at its words. Nehemiah, Ezra, and the Levites then tell them not to mourn: there is rich food to eat, sweet drink to pour, and portions to send to those who have nothing prepared. The tears consequently give way to eating, drinking, sharing, and great rejoicing—a remarkably brisk change of programme.

    Booths in every available cornervv. 13–18

    On the second day, the family heads, priests, and Levites gather around Ezra to study the Law. They discover that the Israelites are to dwell in booths during the feast, and the people go out for branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees. Booths appear on rooftops, in courtyards, in the courts of the house of God, and in the squares by the Water Gate and the Gate of Ephraim. The returned assembly lives in them, and the text says that nothing like this had been celebrated since the days of Joshua son of Nun. Ezra continues reading day after day; the feast lasts seven days, followed by an eighth-day assembly.

    The text

    Read it

    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. Neh 8:1At that time all the people gathered together in the square before the Water Gate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded for Israel.

    2. Neh 8:2On the first day of the seventh month, Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men and women and all who could listen and understand.

    3. Neh 8:3So Ezra read it aloud from daybreak until noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate, in front of the men and women and those who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.

    4. Neh 8:4Ezra the scribe stood on a high wooden platform built for this occasion. At his right side stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, and at his left were Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hash-baddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam.

    5. Neh 8:5Ezra opened the book in full view of all the people, since he was standing above them all, and as he opened it, all the people stood up.

    6. Neh 8:6Then Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and with their hands uplifted, all the people said, “Amen, Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.

    7. Neh 8:7The Levites—Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah—instructed the people in the Law as they stood in their places.

    8. Neh 8:8So they read from the Book of the Law of God, explaining it and giving insight, so that the people could understand what was being read.

    9. Neh 8:9Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to all of them, “This day is holy to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people were weeping as they heard the words of the Law.

    10. Neh 8:10Then Nehemiah told them, “Go and eat what is rich, drink what is sweet, and send out portions to those who have nothing prepared, since today is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

    11. Neh 8:11And the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be still, since today is holy. Do not grieve.”

    12. Neh 8:12Then all the people began to eat and drink, to send out portions, and to rejoice greatly, because they understood the words that had been made known to them.

    13. Neh 8:13On the second day of the month, the heads of all the families, along with the priests and Levites, gathered around Ezra the scribe to study the words of the Law.

    14. Neh 8:14And they found written in the Law, which the LORD had commanded through Moses, that the Israelites were to dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month,

    15. Neh 8:15and that they should proclaim this message and spread it throughout their towns and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the hill country and bring back branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees, to make booths, as it is written.”

    16. Neh 8:16And the people went out, brought back branches, and made booths on their own rooftops, in their courtyards, in the courts of the house of God, and in the squares by the Water Gate and by the Gate of Ephraim.

    17. Neh 8:17The whole assembly that had returned from exile made booths and lived in them. From the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated like this. And there was great rejoicing.

    18. Neh 8:18Day after day, from the first day to the last, Ezra read from the Book of the Law of God. The Israelites kept the feast for seven days, and on the eighth day they held an assembly, according to the ordinance.

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 236 passages were voted onto 18 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 10Psalms 28:7–8The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart rejoices, and I give thanks to Him with my song.
    • 10Proverbs 17:22A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.
    • 102 Corinthians 12:8–9Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.
    • 10Ecclesiastes 9:7Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a cheerful heart, for God has already approved your works:
    • 10Isaiah 12:1–3In that day you will say: “O LORD, I will praise You. Although You were angry with me, Your anger has turned away, and You have comforted me.
    • 10Psalms 149:2Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.
    • 10Esther 9:19This is why the rural Jews, who live in the villages, observe the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day of joy and feasting. It is a holiday for sending gifts to one another.
    • 10Esther 9:22as the days on which the Jews gained rest from their enemies and the month in which their sorrow turned to joy and their mourning into a holiday. He wrote that these were to be days of feasting and joy, of sending gifts to one another and to the poor.
    • 10Ecclesiastes 3:13and also that every man should eat and drink and find satisfaction in all his labor—this is the gift of God.
    • 10Philippians 3:4though I myself could have such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more:
    • 10Luke 11:41But give as alms the things that are within you, and behold, everything will be clean for you.
    • 10Deuteronomy 26:11–13So you shall rejoice—you, the Levite, and the foreigner dwelling among you—in all the good things the LORD your God has given to you and your household.
    • 61 Timothy 2:8Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or dissension.
    • 8Luke 24:45Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
    • 14Leviticus 23:34“Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the Feast of Tabernacles to the LORD begins, and it continues for seven days.
    • 1Ezra 7:6this Ezra came up from Babylon. He was a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses, which the LORD, the God of Israel, had given. The king had granted Ezra all his requests, for the hand of the LORD his God was upon him.

    Onward

    Keep reading

    Next chapterNehemiah 938 verses.Named hereLeviEverything the graph connects to this name.BookNehemiahAll 13 chapters.Every bookThe Bible66 books, 1,189 chapters.