Nehemiah 8


Nehemiah 8 is the eighth chapter of the Book of Nehemiah in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, or the 18th chapter of the book of Ezra-Nehemiah in the Hebrew Bible, which treats the book of Ezra and book of Nehemiah as one book. Jewish tradition states that Ezra is the author of Ezra-Nehemiah as well as the Book of Chronicles, but modern scholars generally accept that a compiler from 5th century BCE is the final author of these books. The part comprising the two chapters focus mainly on Ezra; with this chapter recording Ezra’s reading and instructing God's law to the people, then together they celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles with great joy.

Text

The original text of this chapter is in Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 18 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes Codex Leningradensis.
There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus, and Codex Alexandrinus.
An ancient Greek book called 1 Esdras containing some parts of 2 Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah is included in most editions of the Septuagint and is placed before the single book of Ezra–Nehemiah. 1 Esdras 9:37-55 is an equivalent of Nehemiah 7:73-8:12.

Ezra reads the law (8:1–12)

The commission given to Ezra was to 'restructure the Jewish community' under God's laws, so he read and instructed the people who gathered around in 'the commands and intentions of God's revelation.'

Verse 1

The requirements of God's laws were founded on God's grace and the intention behind the Feast of Tabernacles was to commemorate God's miraculous deliverance of Israel. The celebration closely followed the regulation in.

Verse 17