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The Festival of Shelters

13 The next day the heads of the clans, together with the priests and the Levites, went to Ezra to study the teachings of the Law. 14 (A)They discovered that the Law, which the Lord gave through Moses, ordered the people of Israel to live in temporary shelters during the Festival of Shelters. 15 So they gave the following instructions and sent them[a] all through Jerusalem and the other cities and towns: “Go out to the hills and get branches from pines, olives, myrtles, palms, and other trees to make shelters according to the instructions written in the Law.”

16 So the people got branches and built shelters on the flat roofs of their houses, in their yards, in the Temple courtyard, and in the public squares by the Water Gate and by the Ephraim Gate. 17 All the people who had come back from captivity built shelters and lived in them. This was the first time it had been done since the days of Joshua son of Nun, and everybody was excited and happy.

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Footnotes

  1. Nehemiah 8:15 Probable text So they … sent them; Hebrew It also ordered that the following instructions be sent.

Festival of Booths

13 On the second day the heads of the families[a] of all the people, the priests, and the Levites gathered together to Ezra the scribe to study the words of the law.[b] 14 They found written in the law,[c] which Yahweh had commanded by the hand of Moses, that the Israelites[d] should live in booths during the festival of the seventh month, 15 and that they should proclaim and give voice in all of their cities in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the hill and bring olive tree branches, olive oil wood branches, myrtle shrub branches, palm tree branches, and other leafy tree branches to make booths, as it is written.” 16 So the people went out and brought them and made booths for themselves, each on his roof, in their courtyards, in the courtyards of the house of God, in the public square of the Water Gate, and in the public square of the Gate of Ephraim. 17 And all of the assembly of those who returned from captivity made booths and lived in the booths because the Israelites[e] had not done it from the days of Jeshua son of Nun until that day. And there was very great joy.

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Footnotes

  1. Nehemiah 8:13 Literally “fathers”
  2. Nehemiah 8:13 Hebrew torah
  3. Nehemiah 8:14 Hebrew torah
  4. Nehemiah 8:14 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  5. Nehemiah 8:17 Literally “sons/children of Israel”