¹⁴ As they studied the Law, they discovered that the Lord had commanded through Moses that the Israelites should live in shelters during the festival to be held that month.^[a]

³⁴ “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. Begin celebrating the Festival of Shelters^[a] on the fifteenth day of the appointed month—five days after the Day of Atonement.^[b] This festival to the Lord will last for seven days.

The Festival of Shelters

¹³ “You must observe the Festival of Shelters^[a] for seven days at the end of the harvest season, after the grain has been threshed and the grapes have been pressed. ¹⁴ This festival will be a happy time of celebrating with your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows from your towns. ¹⁵ For seven days you must celebrate this festival to honor the Lord your God at the place he chooses, for it is he who blesses you with bountiful harvests and gives you success in all your work. This festival will be a time of great joy for all.

⁴⁰ On the first day gather branches from magnificent trees^[a]—palm fronds, boughs from leafy trees, and willows that grow by the streams. Then celebrate with joy before the Lord your God for seven days. ⁴¹ You must observe this festival to the Lord for seven days every year. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed in the appointed month^[b] from generation to generation. ⁴² For seven days you must live outside in little shelters. All native-born Israelites must live in shelters. ⁴³ This will remind each new generation of Israelites that I made their ancestors live in shelters when I rescued them from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”

² But soon it was time for the Jewish Festival of Shelters,

¹⁷ Jacob, on the other hand, traveled on to Succoth. There he built himself a house and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place was named Succoth (which means “shelters”).

¹⁶ In the end, the enemies of Jerusalem who survive the plague will go up to Jerusalem each year to worship the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, and to celebrate the Festival of Shelters. ¹⁷ Any nation in the world that refuses to come to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, will have no rain. ¹⁸ If the people of Egypt refuse to attend the festival, the Lord will punish^[a] them with the same plague that he sends on the other nations who refuse to go. ¹⁹ Egypt and the other nations will all be punished if they don’t go to celebrate the Festival of Shelters.