¹²Then all the people went to eat and drink and to send portions. They had a big, joyful celebration because they understood the words that had been explained to them.

The Festival of Booths Is Observed

¹³On the second day the leaders of the families of all the people, including the priests and the Levites, met with Ezra the scribe to study the words of God’s Teachings. ¹⁴They found written in the Teachings that the Lord had given an order through Moses that the people of Israel should live in booths during a festival in the seventh month. ¹⁵They should announce this command and send this message throughout all their cities and Jerusalem: “Go to the mountains, and get branches—olive and wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other thick-leaved branches—to make booths as it is written.”

¹⁶So the people went to get branches to make booths for themselves. Some made booths on their roofs, others in their courtyards, in the courtyards of God’s temple, in the open area by Water Gate, or in the open area at Ephraim Gate.

¹⁷The whole assembly that had come back from exile made booths and lived in them. From the time of Jeshua (son of Nun) to that day, the people of Israel had not done this. There was a big, joyful celebration. ¹⁸Day by day, from the first day of the festival to the last day, Ezra continued to read from the Book of God’s Teachings. The people celebrated the festival for seven days, and on the eighth day, they had a closing festival assembly in accordance with the regulations.

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