Nehemiah 8:13-18

International Children’s Bible

¹³ On the second day of the month, the leaders of all the families met with Ezra the teacher. The priests and Levites also met with him. They gathered to study the words of the Teachings. ¹⁴ This is what they found written in the Teachings: The Lord had commanded through Moses that the people of Israel were to live in shelters. This was during the feast of the seventh month. ¹⁵ The people were supposed to preach this message. They were to spread it through all of their towns and in Jerusalem: “Go out into the mountains. Bring back branches from olive and wild olive trees, myrtle trees, palms and shade trees. Make shelters with them. It is written in the Law.”

¹⁶ So the people went out and got tree branches. They built shelters on their roofs^[a] and in their courtyards. They built shelters in the courtyards of the Temple. And they built them in the square by the Water Gate and the square next to the Gate of Ephraim. ¹⁷ The whole group that had come back from captivity built shelters. And they lived in them. The Israelites had not done this since the time of Joshua son of Nun. And they were very happy.

¹⁸ Ezra read to them from the Book of the Teachings. He read every day, from the first day to the last. The people of Israel celebrated the feast for seven days. Then on the eighth day the people gathered as the law said.