See in Reader
801 B
801 B
Nehemiah 8 General Notes
Special concepts in this chapter
Reading of the law
During the exile, the Hebrew language was no longer spoken. Only the priests and Levites still understood it. Ezra read the book of the law to the people in Hebrew and the Levites walked among the crowd translating it into Aramaic for the people to understand. (See: rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/priest and rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/lawofmoses)
Festival of Shelters
After they heard Ezra read the law of Moses, the people obeyed it by making temporary shelters for themselves with tree branches. They did this to remember that their ancestors slept in shelters when they came out of slavery in Egypt.