Day 211 of 730

¹All the people gathered themselves together as one man into the broad place that was before the water gate; and they spoke to Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel.

²Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, both men and women, and all who could hear with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month.

³He read therein before the broad place that was before the water gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women, and of those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.

⁴Ezra the scribe stood on a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, and Shema, and Anaiah, and Uriah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, on his right hand; and on his left hand, Pedaiah, and Mishael, and Malchijah, and Hashum, and Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam.

⁵Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up:

⁶and Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. All the people answered, "Amen, Amen," with the lifting up of their hands. They bowed their heads, and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

⁷Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people stayed in their place.

⁸They read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly; and they gave the sense, so that they understood the reading.

⁹Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites who taught the people, said to all the people, "This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn, nor weep." For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law.

¹⁰Then he said to them, "Go your way. Eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to him for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved; for the joy of the Lord is your strength."

¹¹So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, "Hold your peace, for the day is holy; neither be grieved."

¹²All the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.

¹³On the second day were gathered together the heads of fathers' households of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, to Ezra the scribe, even to give attention to the words of the law.

¹⁴They found written in the law, how that the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month;

¹⁵and that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, "Go out to the mountain, and get olive branches, and branches of wild olive, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written."

¹⁶So the people went out, and brought them, and made themselves booths, everyone on the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of God's house, and in the broad place of the water gate, and in the broad place of the gate of Ephraim.

¹⁷All the assembly of those who had come again out of the captivity made booths, and lived in the booths; for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun to that day the children of Israel had not done so. There was very great gladness.

¹⁸Also day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. They kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according to the ordinance.

¹Now in the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackcloth, and earth on them.

²The seed of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.

³They stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the Lord their God a fourth part of the day; and a fourth part they confessed, and worshiped the Lord their God.

⁴Then Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani of the Levites stood up on the stairs, and cried with a loud voice to the Lord their God.

⁵Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, "Stand up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting! Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise!

⁶You are the Lord, even you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their army, the earth and all things that are on it, the seas and all that is in them, and you preserve them all. The army of heaven worships you.

⁷You are the Lord, the God who chose Abram, and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans, and gave him the name of Abraham,

⁸and found his heart faithful before you, and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite, and the Girgashite, to give it to his seed, and have performed your words; for you are righteous.

⁹"You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heard their cry by the Red Sea,

¹⁰and showed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, and against all his servants, and against all the people of his land; for you knew that they dealt proudly against them, and made a name for yourself, as it is this day.

¹¹You divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and you cast their pursuers into the depths, as a stone into the mighty waters.

¹²Moreover, in a pillar of cloud you led them by day; and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light in the way in which they should go.

¹³"You came down also on Mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments,

¹⁴and made known to them your holy Sabbath, and commanded them commandments, and statutes, and a law, by Moses your servant,

¹⁵and gave them bread from the sky for their hunger, and brought forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and commanded them that they should go in to possess the land which you had sworn to give them.

¹⁶"But they and our fathers dealt proudly and hardened their neck, did not listen to your commandments,

¹⁷and refused to obey, neither were they mindful of your wonders that you did among them, but hardened their neck, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage. But you are a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and did not forsake them.

¹⁸Yes, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, 'This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,' and had committed awful blasphemies;

¹⁹yet you in your manifold mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness: the pillar of cloud did not depart from over them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way in which they should go.

²⁰You gave also your good Spirit to instruct them, and did not withhold your manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst.

²¹"Yes, forty years you sustained them in the wilderness. They lacked nothing. Their clothes did not grow old, and their feet did not swell.

²²Moreover you gave them kingdoms and peoples, which you allotted according to their portions. So they possessed the land of Sihon, even the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan.

²³You also multiplied their children as the stars of the sky, and brought them into the land concerning which you said to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it.

²⁴"So the children went in and possessed the land, and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hands, with their kings, and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they pleased.

²⁵They took fortified cities, and a rich land, and possessed houses full of all good things, cisterns dug out, vineyards, and olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate, were filled, became fat, and delighted themselves in your great goodness.

²⁶"Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against you, and cast your law behind their back, and killed your prophets that testified against them to turn them again to you, and they committed awful blasphemies.

²⁷Therefore you delivered them into the hand of their adversaries, who distressed them. In the time of their trouble, when they cried to you, you heard from heaven; and according to your manifold mercies you gave them saviors who saved them out of the hand of their adversaries.

²⁸But after they had rest, they did evil again before you; therefore left you them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them; yet when they returned, and cried to you, you heard from heaven; and many times you delivered them according to your mercies,

²⁹and testified against them, that you might bring them again to your law. Yet they dealt proudly, and did not listen to your commandments, but sinned against your ordinances, (which if a man does, he shall live in them), turned their backs, stiffened their neck, and would not hear.

³⁰Yet many years you put up with them, and testified against them by your Spirit through your prophets. Yet would they not give ear. Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.

³¹"Nevertheless in your manifold mercies you did not make a full end of them, nor forsake them; for you are a gracious and merciful God.

³²Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness, do not let all the travail seem little before you, that has come on us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria to this day.

³³However you are just in all that has come on us; for you have dealt truly, but we have done wickedly;

³⁴neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept your law, nor listened to your commandments and your testimonies with which you testified against them.

³⁵For they have not served you in their kingdom, and in your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and rich land which you gave before them, neither did they turn from their wicked works.

³⁶"Behold, we are servants this day, and as for the land that you gave to our fathers to eat its fruit and its good, behold, we are servants in it.

³⁷It yields much increase to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins: also they have power over our bodies, and over our livestock, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.

³⁸Yet for all this, we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, our Levites, and our priests, seal it."

¹Hear my cry, God. Listen to my prayer.

²From the end of the earth, I will call to you, when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

³For you have been a refuge for me, a strong tower from the enemy.

⁴I will dwell in your tent forever. I will take refuge in the shelter of your wings. Selah.

⁵For you, God, have heard my vows. You have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.

⁶You will prolong the king's life; his years shall be for generations.

⁷He shall be enthroned in God's presence forever. Appoint your loving kindness and truth, that they may preserve him.

⁸So I will sing praise to your name forever, that I may fulfill my vows daily.

¹These also are proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out.

²It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.

³As the heavens for height, and the earth for depth, so the hearts of kings are unsearchable.

⁴Take away the dross from the silver, and material comes out for the refiner;

⁵Take away the wicked from the king's presence, and his throne will be established in righteousness.

⁶Do not exalt yourself in the presence of the king, or claim a place among great men;

⁷for it is better that it be said to you, "Come up here," than that you should be put lower in the presence of the prince, whom your eyes have seen.

⁸Do not be hasty in bringing charges to court. What will you do in the end when your neighbor shames you?

⁹Debate your case with your neighbor, and do not betray the confidence of another;

¹⁰lest one who hears it put you to shame, and your bad reputation never depart.

¹¹A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.

¹²As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover to an obedient ear.

¹³As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to those who send him; for he refreshes the soul of his masters.

¹⁴As clouds and wind without rain, so is he who boasts of gifts deceptively.

¹⁵By patience a ruler is persuaded. A soft tongue breaks the bone.

¹⁶Have you found honey? Eat as much as is sufficient for you, lest you eat too much, and vomit it.

¹⁷Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor's house, lest he be weary of you, and hate you.

¹⁸A man who gives false testimony against his neighbor is like a club, a sword, or a sharp arrow.

¹⁹Confidence in someone unfaithful in time of trouble is like a bad tooth, or a lame foot.

²⁰As one who takes away a garment in cold weather, or vinegar on soda, so is one who sings songs to a heavy heart.

²¹If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat. If he is thirsty, give him water to drink:

²²for you will heap coals of fire on his head, and the Lord will reward you.

²³The north wind brings forth rain: so a backbiting tongue brings an angry face.

²⁴It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop, than to share a house with a contentious woman.

²⁵Like cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.

²⁶Like a muddied spring, and a polluted well, so is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.

²⁷It is not good to eat much honey; nor is it honorable to seek one's own honor.

²⁸Like a city that is broken down and without walls is a man whose spirit is without restraint.