Nehemiah 8:15 (KJV)

What does Nehemiah 8:15 mean?

Nehemiah 8:15 describes an announcement to the people of Jerusalem and the surrounding cities. They are told to gather branches and build temporary shelters, called booths, in keeping with what had been found written in God’s law.

The announcement follows the discovery in verse 14 that the Israelites were to live in booths during a festival in the seventh month. The branches would form the shelters used for that celebration. The message is to be made public in the cities as well as in Jerusalem.

The Hebrew behind Nehemiah 8:15

• “publish” — שָׁמַע (shamaʿ): This word often means “hear,” and in this form carries the sense of making something heard. The announcement was meant to reach people publicly.
• “pine” — שֶׁמֶן (shemen): This word is associated with oil. The KJV’s “pine branches” translates a phrase referring to the branches of an oil-producing tree; the exact tree intended is not certain.
• “booths” — סֻכּוֹת (sukkot): The word means shelters or huts. It refers to the temporary structures the people were to make from the gathered material.

Why Nehemiah 8:15 matters

• The instruction reaches beyond Jerusalem. “In all their cities, and in Jerusalem” shows that the announcement was intended for people in the surrounding towns too.
• The phrase “as it is written” ties the work to the law just read. The festival was not being presented as a new invention.
• Several kinds of branches are named. The people were to gather material from different trees to make the booths, rather than build permanent houses.