Linguistics, Linguistique, Religion, Histoire et sciences des religions, History and sciences of religions, Exégèse biblique et critique biblique, Exegesis and biblical criticism, Ancien Testament, Old testament, Livres historiques, Historical books, Esdras, Ezra, Néhémie, Nehemiah, Araméen, Aramaic, Chronique, Chronicle, Lecture, Reading, Livre d'Esdras, Book of Ezra, Livre de Néhémie, Book of Nehemiah, Loi, Law, Lumière, Light, Ordre, Order, Récit, Narrative, Sens, Meaning, Sémantique, Semantics, Traduction, Translation, and Esdras
The Hebrew phrase śôm śekel which occurs in the narrative of the reading of the Law in Neh. 8:8 is usually understood literally as 'setting or giving (śôm) sense (śekel)', based on the context of the verse. This article suggests that the phrase śôm śekel is an idiom meaning 'to give an order, to instruct', a calque translation from Aramaic śîm ṭĕ'ēm and Akkadian ṭēma šakānu. While the Hebrew noun śekel is the semantic equivalent of Akkadian ṭēmu and Aramaic ṭĕ'ēm, all meaning 'insight, understanding' (especially in the books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Chronicles, where Hebrew ta'am is not attested), the noun śekel in the phrase śôm śekel is a semantic loan, which extends the original meaning of the noun from the additional meaning of Akkadian ṭēmu, and Aramaic ṭĕ'ēm (especially in the phrase śîm ṭĕ'ēm), denoting 'order, instruction, report'.