The priests and the Levites and the men of Israel settled in Jerusalem and in the country: Beginning with this sentence, the rest of the book follows Neh 7.73–8.12. This creates a rupture in the narrative of 1 Esdras, as the author jumps to the story of Ezra’s reading of the Law. This particular sentence comes from Neh 7.73a, and it is always taken as the beginning of a new section in Nehemiah. In the narrative of 1 Esdras, however, we believe this sentence is better taken as ending the preceding material. If we take it as the end of this section, it allows the narrative of the return from exile to come to a resting point, and it considerably simplifies our dealing with the rest of verse 37, with which we begin the next section. The men of Israel refers to the lay people of Israel. Good News Bible says “the ordinary people of Israel.” In the country refers to any part of Judah outside of Jerusalem. An alternative model for verse 37a is:

• So the Israelites, including the priests and the Levites, settled down in Jerusalem and other areas of the country.

On the new moon of the seventh month: The new moon refers to the first day of the month. For the seventh month, see the comments on 1 Esd 5.47. The first day of the seventh month was a holy day on which the Jews celebrated the Festival of Trumpets (Lev 23.23-25; Num 29.1-6), called Rosh Hashanah now, the Jewish New Year’s Day. It was regarded as the most important of the New Moon celebrations.

When the sons of Israel were in their settlements: The sons of Israel refers to any Jew who was not a priest or Levite. They were the lay people. Their settlements refers to anywhere the Jews were living in Judah.

The whole multitude gathered with one accord into the open square before the east gate of the temple: The whole multitude refers to all the Jewish people, although this is surely an overstatement. Women are included here (see verse 40). For the Greek word rendered with one accord, see the comments on 1 Esd 5.47, where it is translated “as one man.” The open square before the east gate of the temple probably refers to the outer courtyard of the Temple in front of its inner east gate (compare 1 Esd 5.47). Good News Bible says “in the square just inside the [outer] east gate of the Temple.”

Here is an alternative model for verses 37b-38:

• On the first day of the seventh month, after the people of Israel were settled, 38 they all came together with a common purpose [or, with one mind], and gathered in the open square in front of the [inner] gate on the east side of the Temple.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 1-2 Esdras. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2019. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.