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1All the people gathered together as one man in the area in front of the Water Gate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel.[#Ne 3:26; #Ezr 7:6]
2On the first day of the seventh month, Ezra the priest brought the Law before the congregation of men, women, and all who could listen with understanding.[#Lev 23:24; Nu 29:1]
3In the area in front of the Water Gate, he read aloud from sunrise until midday to the men, women, and those who could understand. All the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.
4Ezra the scribe stood on a platform of wood, which they had made for the purpose. Beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand; and on his left hand, Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam.
5Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people (because he was above all the people), and, as he opened it, all the people stood up.[#Jdg 3:20; 1Ki 8:14]
6And Ezra blessed the Lord , the great God. All the people answered, “Amen, Amen!” while lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground.[#Ne 5:13; #Ex 4:31]
7Then Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, explained the Law to the people while the people stood in their place.[#Ezr 10:22–23]
8They read from the book, from the Law of God, with interpretation, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.
9Then Nehemiah the magistrate, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were teaching the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God. Stop mourning and weeping.” (This was because all the people wept when they heard the words of the Law.)[#Ne 7:65, 70]
10Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat, drink the sweet drink, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
11So the Levites quieted all the people, saying, “Hush! Because today is holy you should stop being so sorrowful.”
12Then all the people went to eat, to drink, to send portions, and to enjoy a great celebration because they had understood the words declared to them.[#Ne 8:7–8]
13On the second day, the chiefs of the fathers’ households of all the people, the priests, and the Levites were gathered to Ezra the scribe in order to understand the words of the Law.
14They found written in the Law where the Lord had commanded by Moses that the Israelites should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month,[#Lev 23:34]
15and that they should pronounce and proclaim in all their cities and in Jerusalem, “Go out to the hills and bring olive branches, along with wild olive branches, myrtle branches, palm branches, and other leafy branches to make booths, as it was written.”[#Lev 23:40]
16So the people went out and brought back branches and made themselves booths, each on the roof of his house, and in their yard, on the grounds of the house of God, in the area in front of the Water Gate, and in the square of the Gate of Ephraim.[#2Ki 14:13; Ne 12:39]
17All the congregation who had returned from captivity made booths and lived in them. Not since the days of Joshua the son of Nun to that day had the Israelites done so, and there was a tremendously great feast.[#2Ch 7:8–10; 8:13]
18And day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. They celebrated the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly as required.[#Lev 23:36; Nu 29:35]