The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah. It happened in the month of Kislev, in the twentieth year, that I myself was in the citadel in Susa,

It happened in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I carried the wine and gave it to the king. And I had never been sad before the king.

So the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all Israel settled in their cities. When the seventh month came, the {Israelites} [were] in their cities.

So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly for [each] man and woman to hear with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month.

They found written in the law, which Yahweh had commanded by the hand of Moses, that the {Israelites} should live in booths during the festival of the seventh month,

On the twenty-fourth day of this month the {Israelites} gathered in fasting, in sackcloths, and with soil on them.