"And they (the Levites) read in (out of) the book of the law of God, explained and gave the sense; and they (the assembled auditors) were attentive to the reading." The Rabbis understand מפרשׁ equals the Chaldee מפרשׁ, of a rendering of the law into the vulgar tongue, i.e., a paraphrase in the Chaldee language for those who were not acquainted with the ancient Hebrew. But this cannot be shown to be the meaning of פרשׁ, this word being used in the Targums for the Hebrew נקב (קבב), e.g., Leviticus 24:16, and for בּאר, Deuteronomy 1:5. It is more correct to suppose a paraphrastic exposition and application of the law (Pfeiffer, dubia vex. p. 480), but not "a distinct recitation according to appointed rules" (Gusset. and Bertheau). שׂום is infin. abs. instead of the temp. finit.: and gave the sense, made the law comprehensible to the hearers. במּקרא ויּבינוּ, not with older interpreters, Luther ("so that what was read was understood"), and de Wette, "and they (the Levites) made what was read comprehensible," which would be a mere tautology, but with the lxx, Vulgate, and others, "and they (the hearers) attended to the reading," or, "obtained an understanding of what was read" (בּ הבין, like Nehemiah 8:12, Daniel 9:23; Daniel 10:11). Vitringa (de syn. vet. p. 420) already gives the correct meaning: de doctoribus narratur, quod legerint et dederint intellectum, de autitoribus, quod lectum intellexerint. The manner of proceeding with this reading is not quite clear. According to Nehemiah 8:5-8, the Levites alone seem to have read to the people out of the book of the law, and to have explained what they read to their auditors; while according to Nehemiah 8:3, Ezra read to the assembled people, and the ears of all were attentive to the book of the law, while we are told in Nehemiah 8:5 that Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people. If, however, we regard Nehemiah 8:4-8 as only a more detailed description of what is related Nehemiah 8:2, Nehemiah 8:3, it is obvious that both Ezra and the thirteen Levites mentioned in Nehemiah 8:7 read out of the law. Hence the occurrence may well have taken place as follows: Ezra first read a section of the law, and the Levites then expounded to the people the portion just read; the only point still doubtful being whether the thirteen (fourteen) Levites expounded in succession, or whether they all did this at the same time to different groups of people.

Nehemiah 8:14 Parallel Commentaries

by. Heb. by the hand of. dwell

Leviticus 23:34,40-43 Speak to the children of Israel, saying...

Deuteronomy 16:13-15 You shall observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that you have gathered in your corn and your wine...

Zechariah 14:16-19 And it shall come to pass...

John 7:2 Now the Jew's feast of tabernacles was at hand.

booths

Genesis 33:17 And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle...

the feast (That is, the feast of tabernacles, which was held in the month Tisri, the seventh of the ecclesiastical year, in commemoration of the sojourning of the Israelites in the wilderness after they had been delivered from Egyptian bondage. For other particulars see the parallel passages.)