[1] And when the seventh month came, the children of Israel were in their
towns. And all the people came together like one man into the wide place in
front of the water-doorway; and they made a request to Ezra the scribe that
he would put before them the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had
given to Israel. [2] And Ezra the priest put the law before the meeting of
the people, before the men and women and all those who were able to take it
in, on the first day of the seventh month. [3] He was reading it in the
wide place in front of the water-doorway, from early morning till the
middle of the day, in the hearing of all those men and women whose minds
were able to take it in; and the ears of all the people were open to the
book of the law. [4] And Ezra the scribe took his place on a tower of wood
which they had made for the purpose; and by his side were placed Mattithiah
and Shema and Anaiah and Uriah and Hilkiah and Maaseiah on the right; and
on the left, Pedaiah and Mishael and Malchijah and Hashum and Hashbaddanah,
Zechariah and Meshullam. [5] And Ezra took the book, opening it before the
eyes of all the people (for he was higher than the people); and when it was
open, all the people got to their feet: [6] And Ezra gave praise to the
Lord, the great God. And all the people in answer said, So be it, so be it;
lifting up their hands; and with bent heads they gave worship to the Lord,
going down on their faces to the earth. [7] And Jeshua and Bani and
Sherebiah and Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah,
Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites made the law clear to the people:
and the people kept in their places. [8] And they gave out the words of the
book the law of God, clearly, and gave the sense of it, so that their minds
were able to take it in. [9] And Nehemiah, who was the Tirshatha, and Ezra,
the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were the teachers of the people,
said to all the people, This day is holy to the Lord your God; let there be
no sorrow or weeping; for all the people were weeping on hearing the words
of the law. [10] Then he said to them, Go away now, and take the fat for
your food and the sweet for your drink, and send some to him for whom
nothing is made ready: for this day is holy to our Lord: and let there be
no grief in your hearts; for the joy of the Lord is your strong place. [11]
So the Levites made all the people quiet, saying, Be quiet, for the day is
holy; and do not give way to grief. [12] And all the people went away to
take food and drink, and to send food to others, and to be glad, because
the words which were said to them had been made clear. [13] And on the
second day the heads of families of all the people and the priests and the
Levites came together to Ezra the scribe, to give attention to the words of
the law. [14] And they saw that it was recorded in the law that the Lord
had given orders by Moses, that the children of Israel were to have tents
for their living-places in the feast of the seventh month: [15] And that
they were to give out an order, and make it public in all their towns and
in Jerusalem, saying, Go out to the mountain and get olive branches and
branches of field olives and of myrtle, and palm branches and branches of
thick trees, to make tents, as it says in the book. [16] And the people
went out and got them and made themselves tents, every one on the roof of
his house, and in the open spaces and in the open squares of the house of
God, and in the wide place of the water-doorway, and the wide place of the
doorway of Ephraim. [17] All the people who had been prisoners and had come
back, made tents and were living in them: for from the time of Jeshua, the
son of Nun, till that day, the children of Israel had not done so. And
there was very great joy. [18] And day by day, from the first day till the
last, he was reading from the book of the law of God. And they kept the
feast for seven days: and on the eighth day there was a holy meeting, as it
is ordered in the law.
