Then Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men, women, and all who could listen with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month.
Parallel translations
- WEB Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, both men and women, and all who could hear with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month.
- KJV And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month.
- BSB On 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.
- NKJV So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month.
- NLT So on October 8 Ezra the priest brought the Book of the Law before the assembly, which included the men and women and all the children old enough to understand.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Ezra brought the Law before the whole assembly of men, women, and all who could understand, on the first day of the seventh month. God's word was for the entire covenant community.
Overview
Ezra, both priest and scribe, presented the Law to an inclusive gathering that embraced men, women, and children old enough to understand. The reading on the first of the seventh month coincided with the Feast of Trumpets, a day of holy assembly (Leviticus 23:24). That God's word was opened to all, not a select few, affirms that Scripture is meant for every believer to hear and heed.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Lev 23:24“Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, shall be a solemn rest to you, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.
- Mal 2:7For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of Yahweh of Armies.
- Num 29:1“‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no regular work: it is a day of blowing of trumpets to you.
- Isa 28:9Whom will he teach knowledge? To whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts?
- Acts 15:21For Moses from generations of old has in every city those who preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”
- Deut 17:18It shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write himself a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the priests the Levites.
- Deut 31:9–13Moses wrote this law, and delivered it to the priests the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of Yahweh’s covenant, and to all the elders of Israel.
- 2 Chr 17:7–9Also in the third year of his reign he sent his princes, even Ben Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah;
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Christ at the center
The rebuilt walls and renewed covenant community foreshadow the greater builder who gathers and secures a people for God, the one who declares 'I will build my church.'
How Nehemiah 8:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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