‘from the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had given to Israel’ (8:1). The people have to learn again about their God, and it is utterly characteristic that they must do so by learning to live together as a society that is obedient to God. Their knowledge of God is not abstract, but utterly practical. So great is their desire to remember and to be themselves again, that we are told they stand from early morning until midday, listening as Ezra reads, and with trained people going through the