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Nehemiah / The Law Is Read; Renewal and Celebration
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The Law Is Read; Renewal and Celebration

Nehemiah 7:73-8:18

8
Chapter 8
1 All the people gathered as one man in the square before the Water Gate, and they said to Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the Torah of Moses, which the LORD had commanded Israel. 2 Ezra the priest brought the Torah before the assembly of men and women, and everyone who could understand to hear, on the first day of the seventh month. 3 He read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until noon, in the presence of the men and women and those who could understand, and the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Torah. 4 And Ezra the scribe stood on a tower of wood which they made for the purpose, and beside him stood Mattithiah and Shema and Anaiah and Uriah and Hilkiah and Maaseiah on his right, and on his left Pedaiah and Mishael and Malchijah and Hashum and Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam. 5 Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people. And when he opened it, all the people stood. 6 And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, "Amen, Amen," with lifting up of their hands. And they bowed and prostrated themselves to the LORD, faces to the earth. 7 And Jeshua and Bani and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaliah, and the Levites were making the people understand the Torah, and the people were standing by them. 8 And they read in the book, in the Torah of God, explaining and giving understanding, and they understood in the reading. 9 Nehemiah (he is the Tirshatha), Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were explaining to the people said to all the people, "Today is holy to the LORD your God. Do not mourn and do not weep, for all the people are weeping when they hear the words of the Torah." 10 He said to them, "Go, eat fat things and drink sweet drinks, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared, for the day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." 11 The Levites silenced all the people, saying, "Hush, for the day is holy. Do not be sorrowful." 12 And all the people went to eat and to drink and to send portions and to have great joy because they understood the words which they made known to them. 13 And on the second day the heads of the fathers gathered to all the people, the priests, and the Levites, to Ezra the scribe, in order to understand the words of the Torah. 14 They found written in the Torah that the LORD had commanded by the hand of Moses that the sons of Israel should dwell in booths in the festival in the seventh month. 15 And they made it heard and caused a voice to pass in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, "Go out to the mountain and bring branches of olive and branches of tree of oil and branches of myrtle and branches of palm and branches of tree of thick boughs to make booths as it is written." 16 The people went out, brought branches, and made booths for themselves—each person on his roof, in their courtyards, in the courtyards of the house of God, in the square by the Water Gate, and in the square by the Ephraim Gate. 17 And all the assembly of the returners from the captivity made booths, and they dwelt in booths, for they had not done so from the days of Jeshua son of Nun until that day. In this way the sons of Israel had their very great joy. 18 He read from the book of the Torah of God day by day from the first day until the last day. They kept the festival for seven days, and on the eighth day there was an assembly according to the judgment.