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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Nehemiah 8 CEV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/nehemiah/8.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/nehemiah/8-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">CEV</a> > Nehemiah 8</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../nehemiah/7.htm" title="Nehemiah 7">◄</a> Nehemiah 8 <a href="../nehemiah/9.htm" title="Nehemiah 9">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Contemporary English Version</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s1">Ezra Reads God's Law to the People</h3><p class="par"><span class="v16_8_1"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.8.1-Neh.8.2" class="v16_8_1">1-2</span>On the first day of the seventh month,<a href="#fn" id="link_Neh.8.1-Neh.8.2!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> the people came together in the open area in front of the Water Gate. Then they asked Ezra, who was a teacher of the Law of Moses, to read to them from this Law that the <span class="nd">Lord</span> had given his people. Ezra the priest came with the Law and stood before the crowd of men, women, and the children who were old enough to understand. </span><span class="v16_8_3"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.8.3" class="v16_8_3">3</span>From early morning till noon, he read the Law of Moses to them, and they listened carefully. </span><span class="v16_8_4"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.8.4" class="v16_8_4">4</span>Ezra stood on a high wooden platform that had been built for this occasion. Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah were standing to his right, while Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hash Baddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam were standing to his left.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v16_8_5"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.8.5" class="v16_8_5">5</span>Ezra was up on the high platform, where he could be seen by everyone, and when he opened the book, all the people stood up. </span><span class="v16_8_6"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.8.6" class="v16_8_6">6</span>Ezra praised the great <span class="nd">Lord</span> God, and they lifted their hands, shouting “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed with their faces to the ground and worshiped the <span class="nd">Lord</span>.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v16_8_7"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.8.7-Neh.8.8" class="v16_8_7">7-8</span>After this, the Levites Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah went among the people, explaining the meaning of what Ezra had read.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v16_8_9"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.8.9" class="v16_8_9">9</span>The people started crying when God's Law was read to them. Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher, and the Levites who had been teaching the people all said, “This is a special day for the <span class="nd">Lord</span> your God. So don't be sad and don't cry!”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v16_8_10"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.8.10" class="v16_8_10">10</span>Nehemiah told the people, “Enjoy your good food and wine and share some with those who didn't have anything to bring. Don't be sad! This is a special day for the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, and he will make you happy and strong.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v16_8_11"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.8.11" class="v16_8_11">11</span>The Levites encouraged the people by saying, “This is a sacred day, so don't worry or mourn!” </span><span class="v16_8_12"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.8.12" class="v16_8_12">12</span>When the people returned to their homes, they celebrated by eating and drinking and by sharing their food with those in need, because they had understood what had been read to them.</span></p><h3 class="s1">Celebrating the Festival of Shelters</h3><p class="par"><span class="v16_8_13"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.8.13" class="v16_8_13">13</span>On the second day of the seventh month,<a href="#fn" id="link_Neh.8.13!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> the leaders of all the family groups came together with the priests and the Levites, so Ezra could teach them the Law </span><span class="v16_8_14"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.8.14" class="v16_8_14">14</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Neh.8.14!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> that the <span class="nd">Lord</span> had given to Moses. They learned from the Law that the people of Israel were to live in shelters when they celebrated the festival in the seventh month of the year. </span><span class="v16_8_15"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.8.15" class="v16_8_15">15</span>They also learned that they were to go into the woods and gather branches of leafy trees such as olives, myrtles, and palms for making these shelters.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v16_8_16"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.8.16" class="v16_8_16">16</span>So the people gathered branches and made shelters on the flat roofs of their houses, in their yards, in the courtyard of the temple, and in the open areas around the Water Gate and Ephraim Gate. </span><span class="v16_8_17"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.8.17" class="v16_8_17">17</span>Everyone who had returned from Babylonia built shelters. They lived in them and joyfully celebrated the Festival of Shelters for the first time since the days of Joshua son of Nun. </span><span class="v16_8_18"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.8.18" class="v16_8_18">18</span>On each of the first seven days of the festival, Ezra read to the people from God's Law. Then on the eighth day, everyone gathered for worship, just as the Law had said they must.</span></p> <a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">8.1,2 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">seventh month: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Tishri (also called Ethanim), the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-September to mid-October.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">8.13 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">seventh month: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Hebrew “same month.”</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 2006 American Bible Society. 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