Beginning
8 And all the people assembled themselves together in the street that was before the Water Gate. And they asked Ezra the scribe if he would bring the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had Commanded, to Israel.
2 And Ezra the Priest brought the Law before the Congregation, men and women and all who could hear and understand it, on the first day of the seventh month.
3 And he read from it, from morning until midday, in the street that was before the Water Gate, before men and women and those who understood it. And the ears of all the people listened to the Book of the Law.
4 And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood which he had made for the preaching. And beside him stood Mattithiah and Shema and Anaiah and Urijah and Hilkiah and Maaseiah on his right. And on his left was Pedaiah and Mishael and Malchijah and Hashum and Hashbadana, Zechariah and Meshullam.
5 And Ezra opened the Book before all the people. For he was above all the people. And when he opened it, all the people stood up.
6 And Ezra praised the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, “Amen! Amen!” with lifting up of their hands. And they bowed themselves and worshipped the LORD with their faces toward the ground.
7 Also Jeshua and Bani and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah and the Levites made the people understand the Law. And the people stood in their place.
8 And they read in the Book of the Law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and made them understand the reading.
9 Then Nehemiah (who is Tirshatha) and Ezra the Priest and scribe and the Levites who instructed the people, said to all the people, “This day is holy to the LORD your God! Do not mourn or weep!” For all the people wept when they heard the Words of the Law.
10 He also said to them, “Go! Eat the fat and drink the sweet and send part to those for whom none has been prepared! For this day is holy to our LORD! Therefore, do not be sorry! For the joy of the LORD is your strength!”
11 And the Levites silenced all the people, saying, “Hold your peace! For the day is holy! Therefore, do not be sad!”
12 Then all the people went to eat and drink, and to send away part, and to make great joy, because they had understood the Words that they had taught them.
13 And on the second day, the chief fathers of all the people, the priests and the Levites, were gathered to Ezra the scribe, so that he also might instruct them in the Words of the Law.
14 And they found written in the Law, which the LORD had Commanded Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths during the Feast of the seventh month,
15 and that they should have it declared and proclaimed in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go forth to the Mount, and bring olive branches and pine branches and branches of myrtle and palm branches and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written.”
16 So the people went forth and brought them and made themselves booths, each one upon the roof of his house and in their courts and in the courts of the House of God and in the street by the Water Gate and in the street of the Gate of Ephraim.
17 And all the Congregation of those who had come back from the captivity made booths and sat under the booths. For since the time of Jeshua, the son of Nun, until this day, had the children of Israel not done so. And there was very great joy.
18 And he read in the Book of the Law of God every day, from the first day to the last day. And they kept the Feast for seven days, and a solemn assembly on the eighth day, according to procedure.
9 On the twenty-fourth day of this month, the children of Israel were assembled, with fasting and with sackcloth and earth upon them.
2 And those who were of the seed of Israel were separated from all the strangers. And they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.
3 And they stood up in their place and read in the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for one fourth of the day. And they confessed and worshipped the LORD their God four times.
4 Then Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani and Chenani stood up upon the stairs of the Levites and cried with a loud voice to the LORD their God.
5 And the Levites (Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah) said, “Stand up and praise the LORD your God forever and ever! And let them praise Your glorious Name, O God, which excels above all thanksgiving and praise!
6 “You are LORD alone! You have made heaven, and the Heaven of all heavens, with all their host, the Earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that are in them! And You preserve them all! And the host of Heaven worships You!
7 “You are, O LORD, the God Who has chosen Abram, and brought him out of Ur in Chaldeans, and made his name Abraham,
8 “and found his heart faithful before You, and made a Covenant with him, to give to his seed the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites and Girgashites, and have performed Your words because You are just!
9 “You have also considered the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard their cry by the Red Sea,
10 “and showed signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land! For You knew that they dealt proudly against them! Therefore, You made Yourself a Name, as it is this day!
11 “For You broke up the Sea before them; and they went through the midst of the Sea on dry land! And You have cast those who pursued into the bottoms, as a stone in the mighty waters,
12 “and led them in the day with a pillar of a cloud, and in the night with a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way that they went!
13 “You also came down upon Mount Sinai and spoke to them from Heaven, and gave them right Judgments, and true Laws, Ordinances and good Commandments,
14 “and declared to them Your holy Sabbath, and commanded them Precepts and Ordinances and Laws, by the hand of Moses Your servant,
15 “and gave them bread from Heaven for their hunger and brought forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst and promised them that they would go in and take possession of the land which You had lifted up Your Hand to give them!
16 “But they and our fathers behaved proudly and hardened their neck, so that they did not listen to Your Commandments,
17 “but refused to obey and would not remember Your marvelous works that You had done for them, but hardened their necks and had in their heads to return to their bondage by their rebellion! But You, O God of Mercies, gracious and full of compassion, of long-suffering, and of great mercy, still did not forsake them!
18 “Moreover, when they made themselves a molten calf (and said, ‘This is your God Who brought you up out of the land of Egypt’) and committed great blasphemies—
19 “because of Your great mercies—You still did not forsake them in the wilderness! The pillar of the cloud did not depart from them by day to lead the way, nor did the pillar of fire by night to show them light and the way by which they should go!
20 “You also gave Your good Spirit to instruct them, and did not withhold Your manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst!
21 “You also fed them for forty years in the wilderness! They lacked nothing! Their clothes did not grow old, and their feet did not swell!
22 “And You gave them kingdoms and people and scattered them into corners! So, they possessed the land of Sihon and the land of the king of Heshbon and the land of Og, king of Bashan!
23 “And You multiplied their children like the stars of the heaven and brought them into the land of which You had spoken to their fathers, so that they would go and possess it!
24 “So, the children went in and possessed the land! And You subdued the inhabitants of the land before them, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hands, with their kings and the people of the land, so that they might do with them what they would!
25 “And they took their strong cities and the fat land and possessed houses full of all goods, cisterns dug out, vineyards and olives and trees for food in abundance. And they ate and were filled and became fat and lived in pleasure through Your great goodness!
26 “Yet they were disobedient and rebelled against You and cast Your Law behind their backs and killed Your Prophets who protested among them to turn them to You! And they committed great blasphemies!
27 “Therefore, You delivered them into the hand of their enemies who troubled them! Still, in the time of their affliction, when they cried to You, You heard them from Heaven! And through Your great mercies, You gave them saviors, who saved them out of the hand of their adversaries!
28 “But when they had rest, they returned to do evil before You! Therefore, You left them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them! Yet, when they returned and cried to You, You heard them from Heaven and delivered them according to Your great mercies, many times,
29 “and testified among them, so that You might bring them back to Your Law! But they behaved proudly and did not listen to Your Commandments, but sinned against Your Judgments (which a man should do and live in them) and pulled away the shoulder and were stiff-necked and would not hear!
30 “Yet, You put up with them for many years, and testified among them by Your Spirit, by the hand of Your Prophets, but they would not hear! Therefore, You gave them into the hand of the people of the lands!
31 “Yet, because of Your great mercies, You have not consumed them or forsaken them! For You are a gracious and merciful God!
32 “Now therefore our God, You, great God, mighty and terrible, Who keeps covenant and mercy, do not let all the affliction that has come to us seem little before You, to our kings, to our princes, to our priests, to our Prophets, to our fathers and to all Your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria until this day!
33 “Surely, You are just in all that has come upon us! For You have dealt truly, but we have done wickedly!
34 “And our kings and our princes, our priests and our fathers, have neither done Your Law nor regarded Your Commandments nor Your Testimonies with which You have testified among them!
35 “And they have not served You in their kingdom, and in Your great goodness that You showed to them, and in the large and fat land which You set before them and have not turned back from their evil works!
36 “Behold, we are servants this day! And the land that You gave to our fathers, to eat its fruit and its goodness, behold, we are servants in it!
37 “And it yields much fruit to the kings whom You have set over us, because of our sins! And they have dominion over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure! And we are in great affliction!
38 “Now because of all this, we make a sure covenant and write it! And our princes, our Levites and our priests seal it!”
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