Nehemiah 8:14-9:3

New King James Version

¹⁴ And they found written in the Law, which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in ^(A)booths^[a] during the feast of the seventh month, ¹⁵ and ^(B)that they should announce and proclaim in all their cities and ^(C)in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the mountain, and ^(D)bring olive branches, branches of oil trees, myrtle branches, palm branches, and branches of leafy trees, to make booths, as it is written.”

¹⁶ Then the people went out and brought them and made themselves booths, each one on the ^(E)roof of his house, or in their courtyards or the courts of the house of God, and in the open square of the ^(F)Water Gate ^(G)and in the open square of the Gate of Ephraim. ¹⁷ So the whole assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made ^[b]booths and sat under the booths; for since the days of Joshua the son of Nun until that day the children of Israel had not done so. And there was very ^(H)great gladness. ¹⁸ Also ^(I)day by day, from the first day until the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. And they kept the feast ^(J)seven days; and on the ^(K)eighth day there was a sacred assembly, according to the prescribed manner.

The People Confess Their Sins

9 Now on the twenty-fourth day of ^(L)this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, ^(M)and with ^[c]dust on their heads. ² Then ^(N)those of Israelite lineage separated themselves from all foreigners; and they stood and ^(O)confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. ³ And they stood up in their place and ^(P)read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for one-fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God.