opened it all the
people stood up. And Ezra blessed Jehovah, the great God. And all the
people answered, Amen, Amen, while they lifted up their hands and bowed
their heads and worshipped Jehovah with their faces to the ground.

[Sidenote: Neh. 8:9-12]
Then Ezra the priest, the scribe, and the Levites who taught the people
said to all the people, This day is holy to Jehovah your God; mourn not,
nor weep; for all the people when they heard the words of the law. Then he
said to them, Go away, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions
to him for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord; and
do not be troubled, for the joy of Jehovah is your bulwark. So the Levites
quieted all the people, saying, Be still, for the day is holy, and do not
be troubled. And all the people went away to eat and drink and to send
portions and to make a great rejoicing, for they had understood the words
which had been made known to them.

[Sidenote: Neh. 8:13-19]
And on the second day the heads of fathers' houses of all the people, the
priests and the Levites were gathered together to Ezra the scribe, in
order to gain an insight into the words of the law. And they found written
in the law, how Jehovah had commanded by Moses that the Israelites should
dwell in booths at the feast in the seventh month; and that they should
proclaim aloud in all their cities and in Jerusalem: Go forth to the
mount and bring olive branches and branches of wild olive and myrtle and
palm branches and branches of thick trees to make booths, as it is
prescribed. So the people went out and brought them, and made themselves
booths, each man upon the roof of his house and in their courts and in
the courts of the house of God and in the open space at the Water Gate and
in the open space at the Ephraim Gate. And all the assembly of those who
had come back from the captivity made booths and lived in the booths; for
since the days of Joshua the son of Nun to that day the Israelites had not
done so. And there was very great gladness. And day by day, from the first
to the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. And they
celebrated the feast seven days, and on the eighth day, as was the custom,
there was a concluding solemn assembly.

[Sidenote: Neh. 9:1-3]
Now in the twenty-fourth day of this month the Israelites were assembled
with fasting, and with sackcloth and earth upon their heads. And the
children of Israel had separated themselves fro