Nehemiah 8:7-17

7 ¹Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, ^{[a] 2}helped the people to understand the Law, ³while the people remained in their places.

8 They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, ^[b] and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.

This Day Is Holy

9 And Nehemiah, who was ⁴the governor, and Ezra ⁵the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, ⁶“This day is holy to the Lord your God; ⁷do not mourn or weep. ” For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law.

10 Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and ⁸send 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 Lord is your strength. ”

11 So the Levites calmed 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 ⁹they had understood the words that were declared to them.

Feast of Booths Celebrated

13 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.

14 And they found it written in the Law that the Lord had commanded by Moses ¹⁰that the people of Israel should dwell in booths^[c] during the feast of the seventh month,

15 and that they should proclaim it and ¹¹publish it in all their towns and ¹²in Jerusalem, “Go out to the hills and bring ¹³branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths, as it is written. ”

16 So the people went out and brought them and made booths for themselves, each ¹⁴on his roof, and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square at ¹⁵the Water Gate and in the square at ¹⁶the Gate of Ephraim.

17 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 ¹⁷the people of Israel had not done so. And there was ¹⁸very great rejoicing.

Nehemiah 8:7-17 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NEHEMIAH 8

Ezra being desired to bring forth the book of the law, read it to the people and others, expounded it to them, Ne 8:1-8 and Nehemiah exhorted the people to express joy and gladness on this occasion, which they did, Ne 8:9-12 and observing the feast of tabernacles was in the law commanded to be observed, they kept it very strictly and joyfully, Ne 8:13-18.

Cross References

• 1. 8:7 [ch. 9:4]
• 2. 8:7 See 2 Chr. 35:3
• 3. 8:7 ch. 9:3
• 4. 8:9 ch. 7:65, 70; 10:1; Ezra 2:63
• 5. 8:9 ch. 12:26
• 6. 8:9 ver. 2; Lev. 23:24; Num. 29:1
• 7. 8:9 [Eccles. 3:4]
• 8. 8:10 Esth. 9:19, 22
• 9. 8:12 ver. 7, 8
• 10. 8:14 Lev. 23:34, 40, 42
• 11. 8:15 Lev. 23:4
• 12. 8:15 Deut. 16:16
• 13. 8:15 [Lev. 23:40]
• 14. 8:16 See 1 Sam. 9:25
• 15. 8:16 ver. 1, 3; ch. 3:26
• 16. 8:16 ch. 12:39; 2 Kgs. 14:13; 2 Chr. 25:23
• 17. 8:17 [1 Kgs. 8:2; 2 Chr. 7:9; 8:13; Ezra 3:4]
• 18. 8:17 [2 Chr. 30:21]

Footnotes

• [a] 8:7 Vulgate; Hebrew 'and the Levites'
• [b] 8:8 Or 'with interpretation', or 'paragraph by paragraph'
• [c] 8:14 Or 'temporary shelters'