Nehemiah 8 | |
---|---|
Book | Book of Nehemiah |
Category | Ketuvim |
Christian Bible part | Old Testament |
Order in the Christian part | 16 |
Nehemiah 8 is the eighth chapter of the Book of Nehemiah in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible,[1] or the 18th chapter of the book of Ezra–Nehemiah in the Hebrew Bible, which treats the book of Ezra and the book of Nehemiah as one book.[2] Jewish tradition states that Ezra is the author of Ezra-Nehemiah as well as the Book of Chronicles,[3] but modern scholars generally accept that a compiler from the 5th century BCE (the so-called "Chronicler") is the final author of these books.[4] This chapter and the next focus mainly on Ezra, with this chapter recording Ezra's reading and instructing God's law to the people,[5][6] then together they celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles with great joy.[7] Nehemiah the governor is mentioned briefly in verse 9 but Smith-Christopher argues that "the presence of Ezra and the virtual absence of Nehemiah support the argument that chapter 8 is among the displaced chapters from the Ezra material", and suggests that "the original place for [this chapter] would logically have been between Ezra 8 and 9".[8]