Nehemiah 6:2

6:2 Sanballat and Geshem sent word to me saying, “Come on! Let’s set up a time to meet together at Kephirim ¹  in the plain of Ono.” Now they intended to do me harm.

Nehemiah 8:1

8:1 all the people gathered together ²  in the plaza which was in front of the Water Gate. They asked ³  Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the LORD had commanded Israel.

Nehemiah 8:13

8:13 On the second day of the month the family leaders ⁴  met with ⁵  Ezra the scribe, together with all the people, the priests, and the Levites, to consider the words of the law.

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¹ tn It is not entirely clear whether the Hebrew word כְּפִירִים (kÿfirim) is a place-name not mentioned elsewhere in the OT (as indicated in the present translation; so also NAB, NASB) or whether it means “in [one of] the villages” (so, e.g., NIV, NRSV, NLT; see BDB 499 s.v.; HALOT 493 s.v.). The LXX and Vulgate understand it in the latter sense. Some scholars connect this term with the identically spelled word כּפירים (“lions”) as a figurative description of princes or warriors (e.g., Pss 34:11; 35:17; 58:7; Jer 2:15; Ezek 32:2, 13; Nah 2:14; see HALOT 493 s.v.): “let us meet together with the leaders in the plain of Ono.”

² tn Heb “like one man.”

³ tn Heb “said [to].”

⁴ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.”

⁵ tn Heb “were gathered to”; NAB, NIV “gathered around”; NRSV “came together to.”