Beginning

8 ¶ And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the plaza that was before the water gate, and they spoke unto Ezra, the scribe, to 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, both of men and women and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month.

³ And he read in the book before the plaza that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law.

⁴ And Ezra, the scribe, stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Urijah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand; and on his left hand, Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchiah, Hashum, Hashbadana, Zechariah, and Meshullam.

⁵ And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people (for he was above all the people), and when he opened it, all the people stood up:

⁶ and Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, lifting up their hands; and they humbled themselves and worshipped the LORD with their faces to the ground.

⁷ And Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah, Levites, caused the people to be silent that they might understand the law; and the people were in their place.

⁸ So they read in the book in the law of God clearly and paid attention, and understood the reading.

⁹ ¶ And Nehemiah, the Tirshatha, and Ezra, the priest and scribe, and the Levites that caused the people to be attentive, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the LORD your God; do not mourn nor weep. For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law.

¹⁰ Then he said unto them, Go, eat the fat, and drink sweet wine, and send portions unto those who have nothing prepared; for this day is holy unto our Lord, and not sad; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.

¹¹ So the Levites caused all the people to be silent, saying, Be silent, for the day is holy; neither be ye sad.

¹² And all the people went to eat and to drink and to send portions and to rejoice with great joy because they had understood the words that were taught unto them.

¹³ ¶ And on the next day the princes of the families of all the people, the priests, and the Levites were gathered together unto Ezra, the scribe, to understand the words of the law.

¹⁴ And they found written in the law, which the LORD had commanded by Moses, that the sons of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month

¹⁵ and that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount and bring olive branches and pine branches and myrtle branches 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 plaza of the water gate and in the plaza of the gate of Ephraim.

¹⁷ And all the congregation of those that returned out of the captivity made booths and dwelt in the booths, for since the days of Jeshua, the son of Nun, unto that day, the sons of Israel had not done so. And there was very great joy.

¹⁸ And Ezra read in the book of the law of God each day, from the first day unto the last day. And they kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according to the ordinance.

9 ¶ Now in the twenty-fourth day of this month, the sons of Israel were assembled with fasting and with sackcloth and earth upon them.

² And the seed of Israel had separated themselves from all strangers and 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 one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed and worshipped the LORD their God.

⁴ ¶ Then stood up upon the stairs of the Levites, Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani and cried with a loud voice unto the LORD their God.

⁵ Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah said, Stand up and bless the LORD your God for ever and ever; and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.

⁶ Thou, O LORD, art alone; thou hast made the heavens and the heavens of the heavens, with all their host, the earth and all things that are therein, the seas and all that is therein, and thou givest life to them all; and the host of the heavens worship thee.

⁷ Thou art, O LORD, the God who didst choose Abram and didst bring him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees and didst give him the name of Abraham

⁸ and didst find his heart faithful before thee and didst make a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite, to give it, to his seed and hast performed thy word; for thou art righteous.

⁹ And thou didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and didst hear their cry by the Red Sea

¹⁰ and didst show signs and wonders upon Pharaoh and on all his slaves and on all the people of his land; for thou didst know that they had dealt proudly against them. So didst thou make thee a name, as it is this day.

¹¹ And thou didst divide the sea before them so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their persecutors thou didst throw into the deeps, as a stone into the mighty waters.

¹² Moreover, thou didst lead them by day with a pillar of cloud and by night with a pillar of fire to give them light in the way by which they should go.

¹³ Thou didst come down upon Mount Sinai and didst speak with them from heaven and didst give them right judgments and true laws, good statutes and commandments,

¹⁴ and didst make known unto them the sabbath of thy holiness and didst prescribe for them commandments, statutes, and law by the hand of Moses, thy slave.

¹⁵ And thou didst give them bread from heaven in their hunger and didst bring forth water for them out of the rock in their thirst and didst promise them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give them.

¹⁶ But they and our fathers dealt proudly and hardened their necks and did not hearken unto thy commandments

¹⁷ and refused to hear; neither did they remember thy wonders that thou hadst done among them, but hardened their necks and in their rebellion thought to appoint a leader to return to their bondage; but thou art a God of pardons, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great mercy, for thou didst not leave them.

¹⁸ Even when they had made themselves a molten calf and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had committed great abominations;

¹⁹ yet thou in thy manifold mercies didst not forsake them in the wilderness; the pillar of the cloud did not depart from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither did the pillar of fire by night, to illuminate the way in which they should go.

²⁰ Thou didst give thy good spirit to teach them and didst not withhold thy manna from their mouth and didst give them water for their thirst.

²¹ Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness so that they lacked nothing; their clothes did not wax old, and their feet did not swell.

²² Thou didst give them kingdoms and peoples and didst divide 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 Thou didst multiply their sons as the stars of heaven and didst introduce them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers, that they should go in to inherit it.

²⁴ So the sons came in and possessed the land, and thou didst humble the inhabitants of the land before them, the Canaanites, and didst give them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would.

²⁵ And they took strong cities and fertile land and inherited houses full of all goods, hewn cisterns, vineyards and oliveyards and many trees of good fruit; so they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in thy great goodness.

²⁶ Nevertheless, they were contentious and rebelled against thee and cast thy law behind their backs and slew thy prophets who testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great abominations.

²⁷ Therefore, thou didst deliver them into the hand of their enemies, who afflicted them; and in the time of their tribulation, they cried unto thee, thou didst hear them from the heavens; and according to thy manifold mercies thou didst give them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.

²⁸ But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee; therefore, thou didst leave them in the hand of their enemies so that they had the dominion over them; yet when they returned and cried unto thee, thou didst hear them from the heavens; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies

²⁹ and didst protest unto them, that they return unto thy law; yet they dealt proudly and did not hearken unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments (which if a man shall do, in them he shall live) and withdrew the shoulder and hardened their neck and would not hear.

³⁰ Yet many years didst thou forbear them and didst protest against them with thy spirit by the hand of thy prophets; yet they did not hear; therefore, thou didst give them into the hand of the peoples of the land.

³¹ Nevertheless, for thy great mercies’ sake thou didst not utterly consume them nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God.

³² Now, therefore, our God, the great, mighty, and terrible God, who keeps covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before thee, that has come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, on our priests, on our prophets, on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day.

³³ Howbeit thou art just in all that has come upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly;

³⁴ neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept thy law nor hearkened unto thy commandments and thy testimonies, with which thou didst testify against them.

³⁵ For they did not serve thee in their kingdom and in thy great goodness that thou didst give them and in the large and fat land which thou didst deliver before them; neither did they turn from their wicked works.

³⁶ Behold, we are slaves this day, behold us here, slaves in the land which thou didst give unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof.

³⁷ And it multiplies its fruit for the kings, whom thou hast set over us because of our sins, who have dominion over our bodies and over our cattle, according to their will, and we are in great distress.

³⁸ And because of all this, we make a sure covenant and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests seal unto it.