Abstract
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 ṭĕʿēm and Akkadian ṭēma šakānu. While the Hebrew noun śekel is the semantic equivalent of Akkadian ṭēmu and Aramaic ṭĕʿēm, all meaning ‘insight, understanding’ (especially in the books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Chronicles, where Hebrew ṭaʿam 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 ṭĕʿēm (especially in the phrase śîm ṭĕʿēm), denoting ‘order, instruction, report’.
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