The Wall Is Finished

¹⁵ So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. ¹⁶ And ^(A)when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem, ^(B)for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.

⁷³ So the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all Israel, lived in their towns.

^(A)And when the seventh month had come, the people of Israel were in their towns.

Ezra Reads the Law

8 And all the people gathered as one man into the square before ^(B)the Water Gate. And they told ^(C)Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. ² So Ezra the priest ^(D)brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, ^(E)on the first day of the seventh month. ^3 (F)And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.