Here the word "ear" represents the person who is listening. The writer speaks of listening attentively to someone as if it were leaning forward so that the ear is closer to the one speaking. See how you translated a similar phrase in [Proverbs 4:20](../04/20.md). AT: "listen to those who instructed me" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-synecdoche]] and [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor]])
These two phrases mean basically the same thing and refer to the person's community that has gathered together either 1) to worship God or 2) to judge him for his offense. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-parallelism]])