And Maaseiah …: Nehemiah also lists eight Levites who are considered by some commentators to be musicians with Jezrahiah as their leader. New Living Translation explicitly calls them “singers,” but there is no clear evidence for this in the text. It is best to simply include the names as a list as Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation have done.

The singers sang, which is literally “the singers made heard,” means “they sang or played loudly.” Bible en français courant translates “The singers made themselves heard,” and this is good French (also Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Nouvelle version Segond révisée), but this is not a usual way to express singing. Revised English Bible renders it as “The singers … raised their voices,” New Jerusalem Bible says “The singers sang loudly,” and Good News Translation expresses it in even more idiomatic English.

The word that is translated leader often refers to a military or civilian officer (see Neh 11.9, where Revised Standard Version has “overseer”). It may be a supervisor or an inspector (so Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Nouvelle version Segond révisée), but here it refers to the leader of the group of singers. New Living Translation gives Jezrahiah the title of “choir director.” New Jerusalem Bible says they sang “under the direction of” (also Bible en français courant).

Quoted with permission from Noss, Philip A. and Thomas, Kenneth J. A Handbook on Nehemiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2005. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .