² Now the Jewish Festival of Booths^[a] was near.^(A)

¹⁶ Then all who survive of the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Festival of Booths.^{[a](A) 17} If any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain upon them.^{(B) 18} And if the family of Egypt do not go up and present themselves, there will be no rain for them; there will be the plague that the Lord inflicts on the nations that do not go up to keep the Festival of Booths.^{[b](C) 19} Such shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to keep the Festival of Booths.^[c](D)

The Festival of Booths Reviewed

¹³ “You shall keep the Festival of Booths^[a] for seven days, when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and your winepress.^{(A) 14} Rejoice during your festival, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female slaves, as well as the Levites, the strangers, the orphans, and the widows resident in your towns.^{(B) 15} Seven days you shall keep the festival to the Lord your God at the place that the Lord will choose, for the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all your undertakings, and you shall surely celebrate.^(C)

¹⁶ “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, at the Festival of Weeks, and at the Festival of Booths.^[b] They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed;^(D)

Offerings at the Festival of Booths

¹² “On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations. You shall celebrate a festival to the Lord seven days.^{(A) 13} You shall offer a burnt offering, an offering by fire,^[a] a pleasing odor to the Lord: thirteen young bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old. They shall be without blemish. ¹⁴ Their grain offering shall be of choice flour mixed with oil, three-tenths of an ephah for each of the thirteen bulls, two-tenths for each of the two rams, ¹⁵ and one-tenth for each of the fourteen lambs; ¹⁶ also one male goat for a purification offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.^(B)

¹⁷ “On the second day: twelve young bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish, ¹⁸ with the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, as prescribed in accordance with their number;^{(C) 19} also one male goat for a purification offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its grain offering and their drink offerings.

²⁰ “On the third day: eleven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish, ²¹ with the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, as prescribed in accordance with their number; ²² also one male goat for a purification offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its grain offering and its drink offering.^(D)

²³ “On the fourth day: ten bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish, ²⁴ with the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, as prescribed in accordance with their number; ²⁵ also one male goat for a purification offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.

²⁶ “On the fifth day: nine bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish, ²⁷ with the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, as prescribed in accordance with their number; ²⁸ also one male goat for a purification offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its grain offering and its drink offering.^(E)

²⁹ “On the sixth day: eight bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish, ³⁰ with the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, as prescribed in accordance with their number; ³¹ also one male goat for a purification offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offerings.^(F)

³² “On the seventh day: seven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish, ³³ with the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, as prescribed in accordance with their number; ³⁴ also one male goat for a purification offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.

³⁵ “On the eighth day you shall have a solemn assembly; you shall not work at your occupations.^{(G) 36} You shall offer a burnt offering, an offering by fire,^[b] a pleasing odor to the Lord: one bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish, ³⁷ and the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bull, for the ram, and for the lambs, as prescribed in accordance with their number; ³⁸ also one male goat for a purification offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its grain offering and its drink offering.

³⁴ “Speak to the Israelites, saying: On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and lasting seven days, there shall be the Festival of Booths^[a] to the Lord.^{(A) 35} The first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations. ³⁶ Seven days you shall present the Lord’s offerings by fire;^[b] on the eighth day you shall observe a holy convocation and present the Lord’s offerings by fire;^[c] it is a solemn assembly; you shall not work at your occupations.^(B)

³⁷ “These are the appointed festivals of the Lord that you shall celebrate as times of holy convocation, for presenting to the Lord offerings by fire^[d]—burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its proper day^(C)— ³⁸ apart from the Sabbaths of the Lord and apart from your gifts and apart from all your votive offerings and apart from all your freewill offerings that you give to the Lord.

³⁹ “Now, the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall keep the festival of the Lord, lasting seven days, a complete rest on the first day and a complete rest on the eighth day.^{(D) 40} On the first day you shall take the fruit of majestic^[e] trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.^{(E) 41} You shall keep it as a festival to the Lord lasting seven days in the year; you shall keep it in the seventh month as a statute forever throughout your generations. ⁴² You shall live in booths for seven days; all who are native-born in Israel shall live in booths,^{(F) 43} so that your generations may know that I made the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

¹⁶ “You shall observe the Festival of Harvest, of the first fruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. You shall observe the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor.^{(A) 17} Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord God.

¹⁴ And they found it written in the law that the Lord had commanded by Moses that the Israelites should live in booths^[a] during the festival of the seventh month^{(A) 15} and that they should publish and proclaim in all their towns and in Jerusalem as follows, “Go out to the hills and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths,^[b] as it is written.”^{(B) 16} So the people went out and brought them and made booths^[c] for themselves, each on the roofs of their houses, and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square at the Water Gate and in the square at the Gate of Ephraim.^{(C) 17} And all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths^[d] and lived in them, for from the days of Jeshua son of Nun to that day the Israelites had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing.^{(D) 18} And day by day, from the first day to the last day, Ezra^[e] 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.^(E)

⁴ And they kept the Festival of Booths,^[a] as prescribed, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the ordinance, as required for each day,^(A)

⁹ On the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, for they had observed the dedication of the altar seven days and the festival seven days.^{(A) 10} On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their homes, joyful and in good spirits because of the goodness that the Lord had shown to David and to Solomon and to his people Israel.^(B)