Nehemiah 8–9

8all the people came together as one in the square before the Water Gate.^g They told Ezra the teacher of the Law to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses,^h which the Lord had commanded for Israel.

²So on the first day of the seventh monthⁱ Ezra the priest brought the Law^j before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. ³He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate^k in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.

⁴Ezra the teacher of the Law stood on a high wooden platform^l built for the occasion. Beside him on his right stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah and Maaseiah; and on his left were Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah and Meshullam.

⁵Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing^m above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up. ⁶Ezra praised the Lord, the great God; and all the people lifted their handsⁿ and responded, “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

⁷The Levites^o—Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan and Pelaiah—instructed^p the people in the Law while the people were standing there. ⁸They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear^a and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read.

⁹Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law, and the Levites^q who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.”^r For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.

¹⁰Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing^s prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy^t of the Lord is your strength.”

¹¹The Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be still, for this is a holy day. Do not grieve.”

¹²Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy,^u because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.

¹³On the second day of the month, the heads of all the families, along with the priests and the Levites, gathered around Ezra the teacher to give attention to the words of the Law. ¹⁴They found written in the Law, which the Lord had commanded through Moses, that the Israelites were to live in temporary shelters^v during the festival of the seventh month ¹⁵and that they should proclaim this word and spread it throughout their towns and in Jerusalem: “Go out into the hill country and bring back branches from olive and wild olive trees, and from myrtles, palms and shade trees, to make temporary shelters”—as it is written.^b

¹⁶So the people went out and brought back branches and built themselves temporary shelters on their own roofs, in their courtyards, in the courts of the house of God and in the square by the Water Gate^w and the one by the Gate of Ephraim.^{x 17}The whole company that had returned from exile built temporary shelters and lived in them.^y From the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated^z it like this. And their joy was very great.

¹⁸Day after day, from the first day to the last, Ezra read^a from the Book of the Law^b of God. They celebrated the festival for seven days, and on the eighth day, in accordance with the regulation,^c there was an assembly.^d

The Israelites Confess Their Sins

9On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and putting dust on their heads.^{e 2}Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners.^f They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the sins of their ancestors.^{g 3}They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the Lord their God. ⁴Standing on the stairs of the Levites^h were Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani and Kenani. They cried out with loud voices to the Lord their God. ⁵And the Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah—said: “Stand up and praise the Lord your God,ⁱ who is from everlasting to everlasting.^a”

“Blessed be your glorious name,^j and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. ⁶You alone are the Lord.^k You made the heavens,^l even the highest heavens, and all their starry host,^m the earthⁿ and all that is on it, the seas^o and all that is in them.^p You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven^q worship you.

⁷“You are the Lord God, who chose Abram^r and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans^s and named him Abraham.^{t 8}You found his heart faithful to you, and you made a covenant with him to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites and Girgashites.^u You have kept your promise^v because you are righteous.^w

⁹“You saw the suffering of our ancestors in Egypt;^x you heard their cry at the Red Sea.^{by 10}You sent signs^z and wonders^a against Pharaoh, against all his officials and all the people of his land, for you knew how arrogantly the Egyptians treated them. You made a name^b for yourself,^c which remains to this day. ¹¹You divided the sea before them,^d so that they passed through it on dry ground, but you hurled their pursuers into the depths,^e like a stone into mighty waters.^{f 12}By day^g you led^h them with a pillar of cloud,ⁱ and by night with a pillar of fire to give them light on the way they were to take.

¹³“You came down on Mount Sinai;^j you spoke^k to them from heaven.^l You gave them regulations and laws that are just^m and right, and decrees and commands that are good.^{n 14}You made known to them your holy Sabbath^o and gave them commands, decrees and laws through your servant Moses. ¹⁵In their hunger you gave them bread from heaven^p and in their thirst you brought them water from the rock;^q you told them to go in and take possession of the land you had sworn with uplifted hand^r to give them.^s

¹⁶“But they, our ancestors, became arrogant and stiff-necked,^t and they did not obey your commands.^{u 17}They refused to listen and failed to remember^v the miracles^w you performed among them. They became stiff-necked^x and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery.^y But you are a forgiving God,^z gracious and compassionate,^a slow to anger^b and abounding in love.^c Therefore you did not desert them,^{d 18}even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf^e and said, ‘This is your god, who brought you up out of Egypt,’ or when they committed awful blasphemies.^f

¹⁹“Because of your great compassion you did not abandon^g them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud^h did not fail to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take. ²⁰You gave your good Spiritⁱ to instruct^j them. You did not withhold your manna^k from their mouths, and you gave them water^l for their thirst. ²¹For forty years^m you sustained them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing,ⁿ their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen.^o

²²“You gave them kingdoms and nations, allotting to them even the remotest frontiers. They took over the country of Sihon^cp king of Heshbon and the country of Og king of Bashan.^{q 23}You made their children as numerous as the stars in the sky,^r and you brought them into the land that you told their parents to enter and possess. ²⁴Their children went in and took possession of the land.^s You subdued^t before them the Canaanites, who lived in the land; you gave the Canaanites into their hands, along with their kings and the peoples of the land, to deal with them as they pleased. ²⁵They captured fortified cities and fertile land;^u they took possession of houses filled with all kinds of good things,^v wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves and fruit trees in abundance. They ate to the full and were well-nourished;^w they reveled in your great goodness.^x

²⁶“But they were disobedient and rebelled against you; they turned their backs on your law.^y They killed^z your prophets,^a who had warned them in order to turn them back to you; they committed awful blasphemies.^{b 27}So you delivered them into the hands of their enemies,^c who oppressed them. But when they were oppressed they cried out to you. From heaven you heard them, and in your great compassion^d you gave them deliverers,^e who rescued them from the hand of their enemies.

²⁸“But as soon as they were at rest, they again did what was evil in your sight.^f Then you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies so that they ruled over them. And when they cried out to you again, you heard from heaven, and in your compassion^g you delivered them^h time after time.

²⁹“You warnedⁱ them in order to turn them back to your law, but they became arrogant^j and disobeyed your commands. They sinned against your ordinances, of which you said, ‘The person who obeys them will live by them.’^k Stubbornly they turned their backs^l on you, became stiff-necked^m and refused to listen.^{n 30}For many years you were patient with them. By your Spirit you warned them through your prophets.^o Yet they paid no attention, so you gave them into the hands of the neighboring peoples.^{p 31}But in your great mercy you did not put an end^q to them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and merciful^r God.

³²“Now therefore, our God, the great God, mighty^s and awesome,^t who keeps his covenant of love,^u do not let all this hardship seem trifling in your eyes—the hardship^v that has come on us, on our kings and leaders, on our priests and prophets, on our ancestors and all your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today. ³³In all that has happened to us,…