Nehemiah 8:10-18

English Standard Version

¹⁰ Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and ^(A)send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” ¹¹ So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved.” ¹² And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because ^(B)they had understood the words that were declared to them.

Feast of Booths Celebrated

¹³ On the second day the heads of fathers' houses of all the people, with the priests and the Levites, came together to Ezra the scribe in order to study the words of the Law. ¹⁴ And they found it written in the Law that the Lord had commanded by Moses ^(C)that the people of Israel should dwell in booths^[a] during the feast of the seventh month, ¹⁵ and that they should proclaim it and ^(D)publish it in all their towns and ^(E)in Jerusalem, “Go out to the hills and bring ^(F)branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths, as it is written.” ¹⁶ So the people went out and brought them and made booths for themselves, each ^(G)on his roof, and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square at ^(H)the Water Gate and in the square at ^(I)the Gate of Ephraim. ¹⁷ And all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in the booths, for from the days of Jeshua the son of Nun to that day ^(J)the people of Israel had not done so. And there was ^(K)very great rejoicing. ¹⁸ And day by day, from the first day to the last day, ^(L)he read from the Book of the Law of God. They kept the feast seven days, and ^(M)on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the rule.