1 When the seventh month came, the children of Israel were in their towns. All the people came together like one man into the wide place in front of the Water Gate. They requested Ezra the scribe that he would bring them the book of the Law of Moses that Jehovah gave to Israel.2 Ezra the priest brought the law to the meeting of the people. They were all able to listen to it. It was the first day of the seventh month.3 He read it in the wide place in front of the Water Gate from early morning till the middle of the day. Everyone who could understand it, men and women alike were able to listen to it. All the people got to hear the Book of the Law.4 Ezra the scribe took his place on a tower podium of wood that they had made for the purpose. By his side were placed Mattithiah and Shema and Anaiah and Uriah and Hilkiah and Maaseiah on the right; and on the left, Pedaiah and Mishael and Malchijah and Hashum and Hashbaddanah, Zechariah and Meshullam.5 Ezra took the book and opened it before the eyes of all the people for he was higher than the people. When it was open, all the people stood on their feet.6 Ezra praised Jehovah, the great God. And all the people said: »Amen!« With lifted hands and bent heads they worshiped Jehovah. They dropped to their faces on the earth.7 And Jeshua and Bani and Sherebiah and Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites made the law clear to the people: and the people kept in their places.8 They read from the book the Law of God making it clear translating it, so that their minds were able to take it in.9 Nehemiah, who was the Tirshatha Governor, and Ezra, the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were the teachers of the people, said to all the people: »This day is holy to Jehovah your God. Let there be no sorrow or weeping.« For all the people were weeping on hearing the words of the law.10 He said to them: »Go away now, and take the fat for your food and the sweet for your drink, and send some to him for whom nothing is made ready. This day is holy to our Lord. Let there be no grief in your hearts. The joy of Jehovah is your strong place.«11 So the Levites made all the people quiet, saying: »Be quiet, for the day is holy; and do not give way to grief.«12 All the people went away to take food and drink, and to send food to others, and to be glad, because the words that were said to them had been clearly communicated.13 The second day the heads of families of all the people and the priests and the Levites came together to Ezra the scribe, to give attention to the words of the law.14 They saw that it was recorded in the law that Jehovah gave orders by Moses, that the children of Israel were to have tents for their living-places in the feast of the seventh month:15 They were to give an order, and make it public in all their towns and in Jerusalem, saying: Go out to the mountain and get olive branches and branches of field olives oil trees and of myrtle, and palm branches and branches of thick trees, to make tents, as it says in the book.16 The people went out and got them and made themselves tents. Every one on the roof of his house, and in the open spaces and in the open squares of the House of God, and in the wide place of the Water Gate, and the wide place of the Gate of Ephraim.17 All the people who had been prisoners and had come back, made tents and were living in them. From the time of Jeshua, the son of Nun, till that day, the children of Israel had not done so. There was very great joy!18 Day by day, from the first day till the last, he read from the book of the Law of God. They kept the feast for seven days: and on the eighth day there was a holy meeting, as it is ordered in the law.

1 Então todo o povo se ajuntou como um só homem, na praça diante da porta das águas; e disseram a Esdras, o escriba, que trouxesse o livro da lei de Moisés, que o Senhor tinha ordenado a Israel.2 E Esdras, o sacerdote, trouxe a lei perante a congregação, tanto de homens como de mulheres, e de todos os que podiam ouvir com entendimento, no primeiro dia do sétimo mês.3 E leu nela diante da praça que está fronteira à porta das águas, desde a alva até o meio-dia, na presença dos homens e das mulheres, e dos que podiam entender; e os ouvidos de todo o povo estavam atentos ao livro da lei.4 Esdras, o escriba, ficava em pé sobre um estrado de madeira, que fizeram para esse fim e estavam em pé junto a ele, à sua direita, Matitias, Sema, Ananías, Urias, Hilquias e Maaséias; e à sua esquerda, Pedaías, Misael, Malquias, Hasum, Hasbadana, Zacarias e Mesulão.5 E Esdras abriu o livro à vista de todo o povo {pois estava acima de todo o povo}; e, abrindo-o ele, todo o povo se pôs em pé.6 Então Esdras bendisse ao Senhor, o grande Deus; e todo povo, levantando as mãos, respondeu: Amém! amém! E, inclinando-se, adoraram ao Senhor, com os rostos em terra.7 Também Jesuá, Bani, Serebias, Jamim, Acube; Sabetai, Hodias, Maaséias, Quelita, Azarias, Jozabade, Hanã, Pelaías e os levitas explicavam ao povo a lei; e o povo estava em pé no seu lugar.8 Assim leram no livro, na lei de Deus, distintamente; e deram o sentido, de modo que se entendesse a leitura.9 E Neemias, que era o governador, e Esdras, sacerdote e escriba, e os levitas que ensinavam o povo, disseram a todo o povo: Este dia é consagrado ao Senhor vosso Deus; não pranteeis nem choreis. Pois todo o povo chorava, ouvindo as palavras da lei.10 Disse-lhes mais: Ide, comei as gorduras, e bebei as doçuras, e enviai porções aos que não têm nada preparado para si; porque este dia é consagrado ao nosso Senhor. Portanto não vos entristeçais, pois a alegria do Senhor é a vossa força.11 Os levitas, pois, fizeram calar todo o povo, dizendo: Calai-vos, porque este dia é santo; por isso não vos entristeçais.12 Então todo o povo se foi para comer e beber, e para enviar porções, e para fazer grande regozijo, porque tinha entendido as palavras que lhe foram referidas.13 Ora, no dia seguinte ajuntaram-se os cabeças das casas paternas de todo o povo, os sacerdotes e os levitas, na presença de Esdras, o escriba, para examinarem as palavras da lei;14 e acharam escrito na lei que o Senhor, por intermédio de Moisés, ordenara que os filhos de Israel habitassem em cabanas durante a festa do sétimo mês;15 e que publicassem e fizessem passar pregão por todas as suas cidades, e em ramos de oliveiras, de zambujeiros e de murtas, folhas de palmeiras, e ramos de outras árvores frondosas, para fazerdes cabanas, como está escrito.16 Saiu, pois, o povo e trouxe os ramos; e todos fizeram para si cabanas, cada um no eirado da sua casa, nos seus pátios, nos átrios da casa de Deus, na praça da porta das águas, e na praça da porta de Efraim.17 E toda a comunidade dos que tinham voltado do cativeiro fez cabanas, e habitaram nelas; pois não tinham feito assim os filhos de Israel desde os dias de Josué, filho de Num, até aquele dia. E houve mui grande regozijo.18 E Esdras leu no livro da lei de Deus todos os dias, desde o primeiro até o último; e celebraram a festa por sete dias, e no oitavo dia houve uma assembléia solene, segundo a ordenança.