 1 All the people gathered as one man into the street before the Water Gate. They spoke to Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded to Israel. 2 Ezra the priest brought the Law before the congregation, both of men and women and all who could hear with understanding, n the first day of the seventh month. 3 He read in it before the street in front of the Water Gate from the morning until noon, in front of the men and the women, and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people listened to the Book of the Law. 4 Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood that they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, and Shema, and Anaiah, and Urijah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, on his right hand. And on his left hand, Pedaiah, and Mishael, and Malchiah, and Hashum, and Hashbadana, Zechariah, and Meshullam. 5 Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people. When he opened it, all the people stood up. 6 Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. All the people answered, Amen, amen, lifting up their hands. They bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. 7 Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites caused the people to understand the law. The people were in their place. 8 They read in the Book of the Law of God clearly. They gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading. 9 Governor Nehemiah and Ezra the priest and scribe and the Levites who taught the people, said to all the people, This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep. For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. 10 Then he said to them, Go eat the fat and drink the sweet and send portions to him for whom nothing is prepared. For this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be sorry, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. 11 The Levites quieted all the people saying, Be quiet. For the day is holy. Do not be grieved. 12 All the people went to eat and drink and send portions, and to make great rejoicing because they understood the words that were declared to them. 13 On the second day the chief of the fathers of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, were gathered to Ezra the scribe, even to understand the words of the law. 14 They found written in the law that the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should live in booths in the feast of the seventh month, 15 and that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem saying, Go forth to the mountain and bring olive branches and pine branches and myrtle branches and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written. 16 The people made booths for themselves, each one on his roof and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God and in the street of the Water Gate and in the street of the Gate of Ephraim. 17 All the congregation of those who had come again out of the captivity made booths and sat under the booths. For since the days of Joshua the son of Nun until that day, the children of Israel had not done so. There was great gladness. 18 Day by day, from the first day until the last day, he read in the Book of the Law of God. They kept the feast seven days. On the eighth was an assembly, according to the law.
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