Nehemiah

8 and all the people to a man came together in the square before the Water Gate and told ʽEzra the scribe to bring the book of Moses’s code which Jehovah had enjoined on Israel. 2* And Priest ʽEzra brought the code before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month, 3*** and read from it at the front of the square before the Water Gate from the first daylight to midday before the men and women and those who could understand, and all the people gave their ears to the book of the code. 4* And ʽEzra the scribe stood on a wooden platform erected for the occasion, and beside him stood Mattithiah and Shemaʽ and ʽAnajah and ʽAzariah and Urijah and Hilkijah and Maʽasejah on his right, and on his left Pedajah and Mishael and Malkijah and Hashum and Hashbaddanah, Zecariah, Meshullam; 5 and ʽEzra the scribe opened the book before the eyes of all the people, because he was above all the people; and when he opened it all the people were standing; 6 and ʽEzra blessed Jehovah, the great God, and all the people answered “Amen,” “Amen,” holding up their hands, and did reverence to Jehovah with faces bowed to the ground. 7* And Jeshuaʽ and Bani and Sherebiah, Jamin, ʽAkkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maʽasejah, Kelita, ʽAzariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelajah, the Levites, expounded the code to the people, while the people stood in their places. 8* And he read from the book of God’s code by sections, bringing out the sense, and they expounded the text.

9* And the Tarshata and Priest ʽEzra the scribe and the Levites who were expounding to the people said to all the people “The day is sacred to your God Jehovah; do not mourn nor weep”—for all the people were weeping as they heard the words of the code. 10 And he said to them “Go, eat rich food and drink sweet drinks and send helpings to anybody who has nothing ready, because the day is sacred to our Lord, and do not be melancholy, for Jehovah’s glee is your security”; 11 and the Levites silenced all the people, saying “Hush, because the day is sacred, and do not be melancholy.” 12* And all the people went off to eat and drink and send out helpings and to hold a great merrymaking, because they understood the notifications that were given them.

13 And on the second day the heads of families of all the people, the priests, and the Levites came together to Priest ʽEzra for information on the points of the code, 14 and they found it written in the code that Jehovah had prescribed through Moses that the sons of Israel were to live in booths during the feast in the seventh month, 15 and that they were to give out and have the announcement made in all the cities and in Jerusalem “Go out to the mountain and bring in foliage of olive-trees and of wild olive and of myrtles and of palm trees and of leafy trees to make booths, as it is written.” 16 And the people went out and brought in, and made themselves booths on their own roofs and in their yards and in the courts of God’s house and in Water Gate Square and in Ephraim Gate Square; 17 and all the assembly, those that had come back from the foreign servitude, made booths and lived in the booths. For the sons of Israel had never done so since the days of Joshuaʽ the son of Nun until that day. And there was a very great merrymaking. 18* And he read from the book of God’s code day by day, from the first day to the last day; and they held a feast for seven days, and on the eighth day there was a holiday, in due form.