Nehemiah 8:11

11 So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, "Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved."

Nehemiah 8:11 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 8:11

So the Levites stilled all the people
Made them quiet and easy, being backed by the governor:

saying, hold your peace;
refrain from weeping and mourning:

for the day is holy;
a festival, set apart for joy and gladness:

neither be ye grieved;
inwardly; as they were not to show any signs of sorrow outwardly, so they were not to cherish grief inwardly.

Nehemiah 8:11 In-Context

9 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 Lord your God; do not mourn or weep." For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law.

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

11 So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, "Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved."

12 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.

13 On the second day the heads of ancestral houses of all the people, with the priests and the Levites, came together to the scribe Ezra in order to study the words of the law.