So they read in the book of the law To wit, Ezra and his companions, successively. And gave the sense The meaning of the Hebrew words, which they expounded in the common language And caused them to understand the reading Or that which they read, namely, the Holy Scriptures; the action being put for the object, as hearing for the thing heard, and fearing for the thing feared. So they gave them both a translation of the Hebrew words, into the Chaldee or Syriac, and an exposition of the things contained in them, and of the duty incumbent upon the people by virtue thereof; to declare which things was a great part of the priest's work, Malachi 2:7.
Related Commentaries of Nehemiah 8:8
Nehemiah 8:8
8 So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.