13
On the second day of the month, the heads of all the families, along with the priests and Levites, gathered around Ezra the scribe to study the words of the Law.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
haš·šê·nî ū·ḇay·yō·wm rā·šê lə·ḵāl hā·’ā·ḇō·wṯ hā·‘ām hak·kō·hă·nîm wə·hal·wî·yim ne·’es·p̄ū ’el- ‘ez·rā has·sō·p̄êr ū·lə·haś·kîl ’el- diḇ·rê hat·tō·w·rāh
Word by word16 · parsed
√ shênîy — properly, double, iArticleNumberordinal masculine singular
Ordinal, "the second," counting from the first day of the month, which Gill identifies as the feast of blowing of trumpets. One day of public reading produced a second, smaller, more deliberate session.
√ yôwm — a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)Conjunctive waw, Preposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular
√ rôʼsh — the head (as most easily shaken), whether literal or figurative (in many applications, of place, time, rank, itcNounmasculine plural construct
√ kôl — properly, the wholePreposition-lNounmasculine singular construct
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationArticleNounmasculine plural
√ ʻam — a people (as a congregated unit)ArticleNounmasculine singular
√ kôhên — literally one officiating, a priestArticleNounmasculine plural
√ Lêvîyîy — a Levite or descendant of LeviConjunctive waw, ArticleNounpropermasculine plural
√ ʼâçaph — to gather for any purposeVerbNifalPerfectthird person common plural
ʼâçaph: to gather for any purpose (Niphal) The passive stem matters. The same chapter has already made this motion publicly at the Water Gate square; here the leadership repeats it privately, the day after. Poole and Benson both read this as voluntary self-exposure: the men who were supposed to know the law are the ones who come back to be taught.
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition
√ ʻEzrâʼ — Ezra, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
√ çâphar — properly, to score with a mark as a tally or record, iArticleNounmasculine singular
çâphar: to score with a mark as a tally or record Ezra's title is built on the verb of counting and reciting, not of authoring. The same root stands behind çêpher, the "book" or written thing of 8:18. The unit therefore brackets itself with one root: the counter of the text and the text he counts out.
√ sâkal — to be (causatively, make or act) circumspect and hence, intelligentConjunctive waw, Preposition-lVerbHifilInfinitive construct
sâkal: to be circumspect and hence intelligent (Hiphil) The pivotal word of the verse. Cambridge lines it up with Psalm 41:1 ("Blessed is he that considereth the poor") and Daniel 9:13, where the same construction means discernment rather than information. K&D notes that ʼel plus haśkîl "expresses taking an attentive interest in anything." What the heads of the fathers ask for is not new data but sustained attention, and verse 14 shows what sustained attention turns up.
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition
√ dâbâr — a wordNounmasculine plural construct
dâbâr: a word Construct plural, "the words of the Torah." The object of their attention is not the Law as an abstraction but its particular sentences, which is why a single neglected clause in Leviticus 23 can surface and reorder the next fortnight.
√ tôwrâh — a precept or statute, especially the Decalogue or PentateuchArticleNounfeminine singular
tôwrâh: a precept or statute, especially the Decalogue or Pentateuch The definite hat·tō·w·rāh presumes a known, bounded document in Ezra's hands. Cambridge raises the historical question this verse forces: if priests and Levites needed instruction, perhaps "the law" had "hitherto been chiefly known by oral tradition or by disconnected writings," and Ezra held the continuous text.