8 ¹ all the people came together as one in the square before the Water Gate.^(A) They told Ezra the teacher of the Law to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses,^(B) which the Lord had commanded for Israel.

² So on the first day of the seventh month^(C) Ezra the priest brought the Law^(D) before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. ³ He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate^(E) in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.

⁵ Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing^(A) above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up. ⁶ Ezra praised the Lord, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands^(B) and responded, “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

⁸ They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear^[a] and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read.

⁹ Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law, and the Levites^(A) who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.”^(B) For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.

¹⁰ Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing^(C) prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy^(D) of the Lord is your strength.”

¹⁶ He went to Nazareth,^(A) where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue,^(B) as was his custom. He stood up to read,^{(C) 17} and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

²⁰ Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down.^(G) The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. ²¹ He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled^(H) in your hearing.”

²² All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.^(I)

²³ Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown^(J) what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’”^(K)

²⁴ “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown.^{(L) 25} I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land.^{(M) 26} Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.^{(N) 27} And there were many in Israel with leprosy^[b] in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”^(O)

²⁸ All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. ²⁹ They got up, drove him out of the town,^(P) and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. ³⁰ But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.^(Q)