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8 A huge crowd of people gathered together in the plaza that was near the Water Gate. They asked Ezra the scribe to bring out the scroll of the law that Moses had written down, and which Yahweh had given to the people of Israel for them to obey its rules and commands. 2 Ezra the priest, who served God by offering sacrifices in the temple, brought out the law and presented it before all the people, to both men and women, and children who were old enough to understand what he read. He did this on the first day of the seventh month of that year. 3 So he read aloud from the book in the plaza that was near the Water Gate throughout the whole morning. He read it in front of all the people, both men and women and children who were old enough to understand what he read. And all the people listened carefully to the laws that were written on the scroll. 4 Ezra the scribe stood on top of a high wooden platform that the people had built for this purpose. At his right side stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah. At his left side stood Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam. 5 Ezra stood on the platform above all the people so that everyone could see him. He opened the scroll, and as he did that all the people stood up.
6 Then Ezra praised Yahweh, the great God, and all the people lifted up their hands to show that they were praying with him. At the end of his prayer they said, “We agree!” Then they all bowed down with their faces touching the ground, and they worshiped Yahweh. 7 Then Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, who were all Levites, explained the meaning of the laws of Moses to the people who were standing there. 8 They read clearly from the scroll of the law of God, and they explained what it meant, so that the people understood what Ezra and the others were reading.
9 Then the people began to cry from sadness when they heard what the law said. So Nehemiah (who was the governor), Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were explaining the meaning to the people, said to all the people, “Today is a festival day on which you are supposed to worship Yahweh your God. Do not mourn or cry!”
10 Then Nehemiah said to them, “Now go home, eat some good food, and drink something sweet. And share some of it with those who are not able to afford rich food and drink, because today is a holy day set apart to worship our Lord. So do not grieve, because the joy that Yahweh gives will strengthen you.”
11 The Levites also told the people who were crying to stop, saying, “Today is a holy day! So, shhh. Do not grieve.”
12 So all the people went home to eat and drink and share what they had. And they were very happy, because they understood the meaning of the words that Ezra had read and the others had explained to them.
13 On the next day, the clan leaders of all the people and the priests and the Levites met together with Ezra the scribe. They wanted to study carefully what was written in the law that Yahweh had given to Moses. They wanted to understand it better. 14 They learned that the law said that Yahweh had told Moses to command the Israelite people to live in shelters during a festival in the seventh month. This was so that they would remember that their ancestors had lived in shelters when they walked in the wilderness after leaving Egypt. 15 They also learned that they should publicly proclaim, in all their towns and in Jerusalem, that the people should go into the hills and cut branches. These should be from olive trees, wild olive trees, myrtle trees, palm trees, and shade trees. They must bring these branches and make shelters to live in during the festival. That was what the scroll instructed.
16 So the people went out of the towns and cut branches and brought them to make shelters for themselves. They built shelters on the flat roofs of their houses, in their courtyards, in the courtyards of the temple, in the plaza near the Water Gate, and in the plaza near the Ephraim Gate. 17 All of the Israelite people who had returned from Babylon built shelters and lived in them for one week. Now the Israelite people had never celebrated that festival like this since Joshua the son of Nun led them into this territory. This was the first time they were doing it. And the people were very happy. 18 Every day during that week Ezra read aloud to the people from the scroll of the law of God. They celebrated the festival for seven days. On the eighth day, they called for all the people to come together so they could hold a ceremony to bring the festival to an end. That was what the scroll instructed.