Nehemiah 9:4

upon the stairs(Marg. Or, scaffold) of the Levites R.V. upon the stairs of the Levites. According to a common but inaccurate punctuation of the A.V., of the Levitesis applied to the list of names which follows. It refers to the pulpit or stage erected for the Levites, that they might read the Law and conduct the service standing in view of the people. Cf. Nehemiah 8:4. For the word rendered -stairs" (LXX. ἀνάβασις. Vulg. -gradus") compare Nehemiah 12:37. It more generally appears as -ascent," e.g. Joshua 10:10; 2 Samuel 15:30; Isaiah 15:5.

Jeshua, &c. See note on Nehemiah 8:7; cf. Nehemiah 10:9.

Kadmiel cf. Nehemiah 10:9.

Bani … Bunni … Bani The repetition of Bani's name is probably due to an error of copyists. The Syriac version for the second -Bani" reads -Binnui"; but as in Nehemiah 10:9; Nehemiah 12:8, Binnui's name comes, as here, between those of Jeshua and Kadmiel, we should here substitute Binnui for the first Bani. The LXX. renders all three names as if the Hebrew in each case had been -B'nêy" = -sons of," reducing the number of proper names in the verse to five (Ἰησοῦς καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ Καδμιήλ, Σεχενία υἱὸς Σαραβία, υἱοὶ Χωνενί). For -Bunni," cf. Nehemiah 10:15; for -Shebaniah," -Sherebiah," cf. Nehemiah 10:12. The names probably represent the chief Levitical houses and not individuals; cf. the mention of Jeshua, Binnui, and Kadmiel in Ezra 2:40; Ezra 3:9, and of Sherebiah in Ezra 8:18. But whether the whole house is in each case intended, or a single representative of each house mentioned, we are not told.

cried with a loud voice If the names represent houses or families, we can picture to ourselves the platform crowded with the members of eight Levite houses, who burst forth into some well-known Psalm of adoration to the God of Israel. If they are names of individual representatives, we must suppose them to have been deputed to recite or chant a specially prepared form of prayer, in order to direct the worship of the people.