Nehemiah 12:38

12:38-39 The second choir . . . went northward, up the western wall past the Broad Wall (3:8), the Old City Gate (3:6), and the Fish Gate (3:3), then across the northern side of the wall until it came to the Sheep Gate (3:1) on the northeast corner of the Temple. • The Guard Gate might be the Inspection Gate (3:31).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 38. The broad wall] What part this was, we know not: it might have been a place designed for a public promenade, or a parade for assembling the troops or guard of the temple.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(38) The other company.—Comparing the order with Nehemiah 3, the reader will have a clear view of the second company. They had the longer route, proceed. ing to the left, rounding the north “broad wall,” passing the sheep-gate, and so meeting the priestly company near the prison-gate. The space where they met had the Temple straight in front, the prison-gate on the right, and the water-gate on the left.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

38. over against them] R.V. to meet them. The line of march of the other procession was by the northern wall. By an ingenious conjecture, Reuss, altering the Hebrew word (= to meet them) by the addition of one consonant, proposes to read ‘on the left hand,’ balancing the words in Neh_12:31.

and I after them] Nehemiah, following the thanksgiving company of Levites and singers and musicians, marched, like Ezra, at the head of the other half of the princes and the people.

and the half, &c.] R.V. with the half, &c. The other half of the princes, priests, men of Judah and Benjamin, and musicians.

from beyond] R.V. above. This seems to mean at a little distance from, i.e. to the north of (see, however, note on Neh_12:31).

the tower of the furnaces] Cf. Neh_3:11.

even unto the broad wall] Cf. Neh_3:8.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the priests,.... They stood there also, whose names follow:

Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Michaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with trumpets; to sound on this occasion.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Watch-gate. Syriac and Arabic, "great gate," by which they came down.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Over against them, to wit, on the other side of the city, northward and eastward.

The broad wall; which they made thicker and stronger than the rest of the wall, for some special reason.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

38. The other… went over against — That is, on the opposite side of the city. As the first company went to the right, (Neh_12:31,) these went to the left, following the wall around, until both processions met near the water gate.

Tower of the furnaces… broad wall — See notes on Neh_3:8; Neh_3:11.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 38, 39. And the other company. Nehemiah now proceeds to trace the course of the other choir or procession the one which he himself accompanied. Starting from the same part of the western wall as the other, its course was northward to the N.W. angle of the city wall, after which it was eastward to the "sheep gate, and then southward to the "prison gate." In this part of his description Nehemiah traces the same portion of the wall as that which had engaged his attention in Neh_3:1-11, and mentions almost exactly the same features, but in the reverse order. For the tower of the furnaces see Neh_3:11; for the broad wall, ver. 8; for the old gate, ver. 6; for the fish gate, ver. 3; for the tower of Hananeel, the tower of Meah, and the sheep gate, ver. 1. The gate of Ephraim is not mentioned in ch. 3. It must have been in the north wall, a little to the west of the "old gate." The prison gate, also omitted in ch. 3, was probably in the east wall, a little north of the water gate.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

choir

group of singers

I followed them

Nehemiah followed them.

Tower of Ovens ... Tower of Hananel ... Tower of the Hundred

These are the names of tall structures where people kept watch for danger. (See: How to Translate Names)

Broad Wall

This is a name for part of the wall.

Gate of Ephraim ... Old Gate ... Fish Gate ... Sheep Gate ... Gate of the Guard

These are the names of openings in the wall.

translationWords

watchtower

gate

Ephraim

ewe

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

And the second thanksgiving offering, which went opposite [it] The other thanksgiving offering, which was second to its fellow, went opposite its fellow, alongside it, not one following the other.

and I was after it And I marched after it, [i.e.,] after the thanksgiving offering.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.