< Nehemiah 8 >
1 And all the people are gathered as one man to the broad place that [is] before the Water Gate, and they say to Ezra the scribe to bring the Scroll of the Law of Moses, that YHWH commanded Israel.
2 And Ezra the priest brings the Law before the assembly, both of men and women, and everyone intelligent to hear, on the first day of the seventh month,
3 and he reads in it before the broad place that [is] before the Water Gate, from the light until the middle of the day, in front of the men, and the women, and those intelligent, and the ears of all the people [are] toward the Scroll of the Law.
4 And Ezra the scribe stands on a tower of wood that they made for the purpose, and Mattithiah stands near him, and Shema, and Anaiah, and Urijah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, on his right; and on his left Pedaiah, and Mishael, and Malchijah, and Hashum, and Hashbaddana, Zechariah, Meshullam.
5 And Ezra opens the scroll before the eyes of all the people—for he has been above all the people—and at his opening [it] all the people have stood up,
6 and Ezra blesses YHWH, the great God, and all the people answer, “Amen, Amen,” with lifting up of their hands, and they bow and pay respect to YHWH—faces to the earth.
7 And Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, giving the people understanding in the Law, and the people, [are] on their station,
8 and they read in the Scroll, in the Law of God, explaining—so as to give the meaning, and they give understanding to the convocation.
9 And Nehemiah—he [is] the Tirshatha—says (and Ezra the priest, the scribe, and the Levites who are instructing the people) to all the people, “Today is holy to your God YHWH, do not mourn, nor weep”: for all the people are weeping at their hearing the words of the Law.
10 And he says to them, “Go, eat fat things, and drink sweet things, and send portions to him for whom nothing is prepared, for today [is] holy to our Lord, and do not be grieved, for the joy of YHWH is your strength.”
11 And the Levites are keeping all the people silent, saying, “Be silent, for today [is] holy, and do not be grieved.”
12 And all the people go to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great joy, because they have understood concerning the words that they made known to them.
13 And on the second day have been gathered heads of the fathers of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, to Ezra the scribe, even to act wisely concerning the words of the Law.
14 And they find written in the Law that YHWH commanded by the hand of Moses, that the sons of Israel dwell in shelters in the celebration, in the seventh month,
15 and that they proclaim and cause to pass over all their cities (and in Jerusalem), saying, “Go out to the mountain, and bring leaves of the olive, and leaves of the oil tree, and leaves of the myrtle, and leaves of the palms, and leaves of thick trees, to make shelters as it is written.”
16 And the people go out, and bring in, and make for themselves shelters, each on his roof, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the broad place of the Water Gate, and in the broad place of the Gate of Ephraim.
17 And they make—all the assembly of the captives of the captivity—shelters, and they sit in shelters; for the sons of Israel had not done, from the days of Jeshua son of Nun, so to that day, and there is very great joy.
18 And he reads in the Scroll of the Law of God day by day, from the first day until the last day, and they make a celebration seven days, and on the eighth day a restraint, according to the ordinance.
