But if you return to me and keep my commandments by really doing them, then, even though your outcasts live under distant skies, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place that I have chosen as a dwelling for my name.’

When you hear the trumpet sound, come and gather where we are. Our God will fight for us!”

Instead, I devoted myself to the work on this wall. We acquired no land, and all my servants were gathered there for the work.

One hundred fifty Jews and officials, along with those who came to us from the surrounding nations, gathered around my table.

Ezra reads the Instruction aloud

When the seventh month came and the people of Israel were settled in their towns, all the people gathered together in the area in front of the Water Gate. They asked Ezra the scribe to bring out the Instruction scroll from Moses, according to which the Lord had instructed Israel.

The people celebrate the Festival of Booths

On the second day, the heads of the families of all the people, along with the priests and the Levites, gathered together around Ezra the scribe in order to study the words of the Instruction.

The singers also gathered together both from the region around Jerusalem and from the villages of the Netophathites,

On that day, people were appointed over the rooms for the things to be stored, the contributions, the early produce, and the tenth-part gifts. They were to gather into them the portions required by the Instruction for the priests and for the Levites from the fields belonging to the towns, for the people of Judah were delighted with the ministry of the priests and the Levites.

So I scolded the officials, asking, “Why is God’s house being neglected?” I gathered them together and set them in their stations.