King James Version

1 And all the people gathered as one man to the square that was in front of the Water Gate, and they said to Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded Israel. 2 And Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men and women and all who could understand to hear on the first day of the seventh month. 3 And he cried out to them in the street that is before the Water Gate from morning until midday in front of the men and the women and those who understood, and the ears of all the people were attentively to the Book of the Law. 4 Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the matter, and beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, and Ananiah, and Uriah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right, and Pedaiah, and Mishael, and Malchijah, and Hashum, and Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left. 5 And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was 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 uplifted hands, and they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. 7 And Yeshua and Bani and Sherebiyah stood on the right, Akub Shabbatai, Hodia, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiyah; and the Levites explained the Law to the people, and the people were standing. 8 And they read from the book of the law of God clearly and gave the sense, and they understood the reading. 9 And Nehemiah said, "He is the governor, and Ezra the priest, the scribe, and the Levites who understand 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 were weeping when they heard the words of the law." 10 And he said to them, "Go, eat the fat and drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." 11 And the Levites calmed all the people, saying, "Be quiet, for today is a holy day, and do not be grieved." 12 And all the people went to eat and to drink and to send portions and to make great joy because they had understood the words that were made known to them. 13 And on the second day, the heads of the fathers were gathered for all the people, the priests and the Levites, to Ezra the scribe, to understand the words of the Torah. 14 And they found it written in the law that the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses that the children of Israel should dwell in booths during the festival in the seventh month. 15 And when they will proclaim and pass a voice in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, "Go to the mountain and bring branches of olive trees and branches of oil trees and branches of myrtle and branches of palm trees and branches of thick trees to make sukkot as it is written." 16 And the people went out and brought, and they made booths for themselves, each on his roof and in their courtyards and in the courtyards of the house of God and in the street of the Water Gate and in the street of the Ephraim Gate. 17 And all the congregation that had returned from the captivity made booths and sat in the booths, for since the days of Joshua the son of Nun, the Israelites had not done so until that day. And there was very great joy. 18 And he called in the book of the Law of God day by day from the first day to the last day, and they made a festival seven days, and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according to the ordinance.