Nehemiah 8:13-18
Festival of Booths Observed
13 On the second day, the family leaders of all the people, along with the priests and Levites,(A) assembled before Ezra the scribe(B) to study the words of the law.
14 They found written in the law how the Lord had commanded through Moses that the Israelites should dwell in booths during the festival of the seventh month.(C)
15 So they proclaimed and spread this news throughout their towns and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the hill country and bring back branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths, just as it is written.”(D)
16 The people went out, brought back branches, and made booths for themselves on each of their rooftops,(E) and courtyards, the court of the house of God, the square by the Water Gate,(F) and the square by the Gate of Ephraim.(G)
17 The whole community that had returned from exile(H) made booths and lived in them. They had not celebrated like this from the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day.(I) And there was tremendous joy.(J)
18 Ezra(a) read out of the book of the law of God(K) every day, from the first day to the last. The Israelites celebrated the festival for seven days, and on the eighth day there was an assembly, according to the ordinance.(L)
Footnotes:
a.
Nehemiah 8:18: Some Hb mss, Syr read They