³ Jehoshaphat was afraid; he set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.^{(A) 4} Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord; from all the towns of Judah they came to seek the Lord.

⁸ Humans and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands.^(A)

¹³ Meanwhile, all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.

¹⁰ “You stand assembled today, all of you, before the Lord your God—the leaders of your tribes,^[a] your elders, and your officials, all the men of Israel, ¹¹ your children, your women, and the aliens who are in your camp, both those who cut your wood and those who draw your water^(A)—

³⁶ Seven days you shall present the Lord’s offerings by fire;^[a] on the eighth day you shall observe a holy convocation and present the Lord’s offerings by fire;^[b] it is a solemn assembly; you shall not work at your occupations.^(A)

² Then those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors.^{(A) 3} They stood up in their place and read from the book of the law of the Lord their God for a fourth part of the day, and for another fourth they made confession and worshiped the Lord their God.^(B)

¹⁸ And day by day, from the first day to the last day, Ezra^[a] read from the book of the law of God. They kept the festival seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the ordinance.^(A)