Nehemiah 7:73–8:8

^73*The priests, the Levites, the temple guards, the musicians, many of the ordinary people, the temple workmen—all the people of Israel—settled in the towns and cities of Judah.

Ezra Reads the Law to the People

8By the seventh month the people of Israel were all settled in their towns. On the first day of that month they all assembled in Jerusalem, in the square just inside the Water Gate. They asked Ezra, the priest and scholar of the Law which the Lord had given Israel through Moses, to get the book of the Law. ²So Ezra brought it to the place where the people had gathered—men, women, and the children who were old enough to understand. ³There in the square by the gate he read the Law to them from dawn until noon, and they all listened attentively.

⁴Ezra was standing on a wooden platform that had been built for the occasion. The following men stood at his right: Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah; and the following stood at his left: Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam.

⁵As Ezra stood there on the platform high above the people, they all kept their eyes fixed on him. As soon as he opened the book, they all stood up. ⁶Ezra said, “Praise the Lord, the great God!”

All the people raised their arms in the air and answered, “Amen! Amen!” They knelt in worship, with their faces to the ground.

⁷Then they rose and stood in their places, and the following Levites explained the Law to them: Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah. ⁸They gave an oral translationⁿ of God’s Law and explained^o it so that the people could understand it.