Torah Readings! Lev 1:1-6:26, 1Sm 15:1-34 Isa 43:21-44:23, Heb 10;1-18 13:10-15

Nehemiah 8:3

And he read therein,.... Some passages in it, here and there, which it was necessary the people should have knowledge of; for it can hardly be thought be began and read on just in the order in which it was: this he did 

before the street; at the top of it, at one end of it: 

that was before the water gate; which looked directly to that: 

from the morning until midday; from the rising of the sun to noon, so that he must read six hours; but very probably was relieved at times by the men with him, after mentioned: 

before the men and the women, and those that could understand; see Neh_8:2, 

and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law; to the hearing of it read, and to the things contained in it; hence Maimonides (h) gathers, that as soon as the reader begins the reading of the law, it is not lawful to speak about anything, not even the constitutions of the law, but silently to attend to what is read. 

Nehemiah 8:8

So they read in the book,.... Ezra and those with him; he first began to read and expound, and when weary they relieved him, and did the same: 

in the law of God distinctly; which was the book they read in, and which they read plainly and intelligibly, so as to be heard and understood; this seems to respect the clear and distinct pronunciation of the words of it, and not the explanation or meaning of it, which is after expressed; some think the sense is, that they first read it in Hebrew, and then translated it into Chaldee, that the people might better understand it, being just come out of Babylon, where they had been used to the Chaldee language; but though this was a practice in later times, it does not seem to have obtained so early, or that there was a necessity of it: