"I confess the sins that we Israelis have committed against you. Both I and my father's house have sinned. We have abandoned you by not keeping your commands, your ceremonies, and your judgments that you proscribed to your servant Moses.

Please remember what you spoke in commanding your servant Moses. You said,

All the people gathered as a united body into the plaza in front of the Water Gate. They asked Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded for Israel.

They found written in the Law that the LORD had commanded through Moses that the Israelis were to live in tents during the festival scheduled for the seventh month.

You revealed to them your holy Sabbath, and you mandated precepts, statutes, and laws through Moses your servant.

joined with their relatives and their leaders. They entered into an oath enforced by a curse to walk in God's Law that was given through God's servant Moses, and to be careful to obey all of the commands of the LORD, our Lord, as well as his regulations and statutes:

Later that day the book of Moses was read aloud so the people could hear it, and a written command was discovered therein permanently prohibiting the Ammonites and Moabites from coming into the congregation of God