What Does Nehemiah 8:16 Mean in the King James?
So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the street of the water gate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The booths spread from rooftops and temple courts into the city’s broad public space, making the shared observance visible across the whole city.
THE MEANING
You see a received instruction take visible form across a city’s rooftops, household courts, temple courts, and streets. The Hebrew word for “street” also carries the sense of a broad, open place, so this practice reaches shared civic space as well as private and sacred space.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the assumption that sacred practice belongs only inside the temple: here it appears on rooftops, in courtyards, and in the open street.
THE ROOT
רְחוֹב
rechov
GROWS FROM
ר-ח-ב
r-ḥ-b
To be wide, broad, or spacious.
The word רְחוֹב (rechov, street) comes from רָחַב (rachav, to be wide). English “street” names a route, while the Hebrew word also carries the sense of a broad, open place; the booths reach into the city’s shared space alongside its homes and temple courts.
ALSO GROWS
rachav: Wide or broad.
רָחָב
This verbal form carries the idea of width that appears in the word for street.
merchav: A broad or open place.
מֶרְחָב
This related noun makes the spacious sense visible: the booths occupy ground shared by the city.
THE PATTERN
A received sacred practice takes shared, embodied form across household, public, and sacred spaces.
And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,THE THREAD
Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths:The KJV word “booths” in both verses renders סֻכּוֹת (sukkot, booths), connected to סָכַךְ (sakak, to cover). Leviticus names the dwelling; Nehemiah shows its coverings spread across rooftops, courts, temple grounds, and the public way.
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