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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://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 ESV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></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="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">ESV</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"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">English Standard Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/esv/nas/nehemiah/8.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div></a><div class="chap"><p class="heading">Ezra Reads the Law</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/8-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> had commanded Israel. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/8-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/8-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/8-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand, and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/8-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/8-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>And Ezra blessed the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> with their faces to the ground. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/8-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites,<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Vulgate; Hebrew and the Levites">a</a></sup></span> helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/8-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly,<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or with interpretation, or paragraph by paragraph">b</a></sup></span> and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.</p> <p class="heading">This Day Is Holy</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/8-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/8-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> is your strength.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/8-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/8-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.</p> <p class="heading">Feast of Booths Celebrated</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/8-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>On the second day the heads of fathers’ houses of all the people, with the priests and the Levites, came together to Ezra the scribe in order to study the words of the Law. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/8-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>And they found it written in the Law that the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> had commanded by Moses that the people of Israel should dwell in booths<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or temporary shelters">c</a></sup></span> during the feast of the seventh month, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/8-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>and that they should proclaim it and publish it in all their towns and in Jerusalem, “Go out to the hills and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths, as it is written.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/8-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>So the people went out and brought them and made booths for themselves, each on his roof, and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square at the Water Gate and in the square at the Gate of Ephraim. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/8-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>And all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in the booths, for from the days of Jeshua the son of Nun to that day the people of Israel had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/8-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>And day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. They kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the rule.</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="footnotesbot">a</span> <span class="fnverse">7</span> Vulgate; Hebrew <i>and the Levites</i><br /><span class="footnotesbot">b</span> <span class="fnverse">8</span> Or <i>with interpretation</i>, or <i>paragraph by paragraph</i><br /><span class="footnotesbot">c</span> <span class="fnverse">14</span> Or <i>temporary shelters</i><br /></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">ESV Text Edition® (2016).<br /><br />The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by <a href="http://www.crossway.org/home/esv/">Crossway Bibles</a>, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. 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