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1 And all the people gathered as one man to the open area which is facing the Water Gate. And they said to Ezra the scribe to bring the scroll of the law of Moses, which Yahweh had commanded Israel.
2 And Ezra the priest brought the law before the faces of the assembly, from man and unto woman, and all who could understand, to hear on the first day of the seventh month,
3 And he read, himself facing the open area which faces the Water Gate, from the light until the middle of the day, before the men and the women, and ones with understanding, and the ears of all the people were toward the scroll of the law.
4 And Ezra the scribe stood on a tower of wood which they had made for the occasion. And Mattithiah stood beside him, and Shema, and Anaiah, and Uriah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, at his right side; and at his left Pedaiah, and Mishael, and Malkijah, and Hashum, and Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, Meshullam.
5 Then Ezra opened the scroll in the eyes of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it, all the people stood up.
6 And Ezra blessed Yahweh, the great God, and all the people lifting up their hands answered, “Amen! Amen!” And they bowed their heads and worshiped Yahweh, noses to the ground.
7 And Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites taught the people from the law, and the people stood up.
8 And they read the scroll of the law of God distinctly, to make it intelligible, and the assembly understood.
9 And Nehemiah himself, the governor, and Ezra the priest scribe, and the Levites who were helping the people understand said to all the people: “This day, it is holy to Yahweh your God. Do not mourn and do not weep.” For all the people wept as they heard the words of the law.
10 And he said to them, “Go, eat the fat and drink the sweet, and send shares to those unprepared, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not grieve, for the joy of Yahweh, it is your strength.”
11 And the Levites hushed all the people, saying, “Quiet! for this day is holy. Do not grieve.”
12 And all the people went to eat and to drink and to send shares and to make great celebration for they understood the words which they made known to them.
13 On the second day the heads of the fathers from all the people, the priests, and the Levites came together to Ezra the scribe to learn from the words of the law.
14 And they found written in the law which Yahweh instructed by the hand of Moses that the sons of Israel were living in shelters during the celebration in the seventh month.
15 And so they announced and spread their voice in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go into the mountains, and bring branches of olive trees and branches of wild olive trees, and branches of myrtle, and branches of palms and branches of leafy trees, to make shelters, as it is written.”
16 And the people went and gathered, and made themselves shelters, each man on his roof, and in their courtyards, and in the courtyard of the house of God, and in the square of the Water Gate, and in the square of the Ephraim Gate.
17 And all the assembly of those who returned from the captivity made shelters and lived in the shelters. Now the sons of Israel had not done so since the days of Joshua son of Nun to that day, and the rejoicing was very great.
18 And day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read from the scroll of the law of God. And they made celebration for seven days; and on the eighth day an assembly, according to a decree.
The Book of Nehemiah