Nehemiah 7:73-8:8

Modern English Version

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

Ezra Reads the Law

When the seventh month came, the children of Israel were in their cities.

8 All the people gathered together as one man in the area in front of the Water Gate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel.

² On the first day of the seventh month, Ezra the priest brought the Law before the congregation of men, women, and all who could listen with understanding. ³ In the area in front of the Water Gate, he read aloud from sunrise until midday to the men, women, and those who could understand. All the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.

⁴ Ezra the scribe stood on a raised wood platform, which they had made for the purpose. Beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand; and on his left hand, Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam.

⁵ Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people (because he was above all the people), and, as he opened it, all the people stood up. ⁶ When Ezra blessed the Lord as the great God, all the people responded “Amen, Amen!” By lifting up their hands as they bowed their heads, they worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

⁷ Then Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, explained the Law to the people while the people stood in their place. ⁸ They read from the book, from the Law of God, with interpretation, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.